Plant status cannot be ignored

It seems to be a foregone assumption by developers that development is sacrosanct and must inevitably go ahead in some shape or form.

The way I read the law, the proposed 41-unit development at Veron Rd can't go ahead.

Stephen Bell's vegetation mapping has identified endangered plant communities on the site which have been given protected status by the NSW Scientific Committee and this can neither be ignored, reduced nor made irrelevant.

Unless compensatory vegetation can be provided, the development cannot go ahead.

The developers can neither provide compensatory habitat nor replace an endangered plant community that consists of little more than five hectares on the face of the planet.

Common sense cries out to reign in all those who would develop a site where critically endangered vegetation exists.

Rezoning should be in the offing.

We must be prepared to make the hard decisions.

Paul Burns, Umina