The depth of local knowledge

When I hear someone say "I am not against development," I ask myself is the speaker aware of the Mangrove Mountain landfill, Warnervale Airport, the Chinese Theme Park and Woy Woy Sporties issues?

Next year the Joint Regional Planning Panel will assess the Woy Woy Sporties development.

All the issues of public interest and concern should be known to the Council officers with the background information to oppose the development.

However, often local knowledge is needed to fill gaps in the Council's database.

The Council's local knowledge will be tested next year at the hearing.

It will be an opportunity to observe the development assessment process and the depth of local knowledge and its source.

The Panel's decision will indicate if the Peninsula residents' quality of life will decrease or increase.

A yes vote will decrease quality of life, a no vote will increase it.

This is the value of local knowledge.

It's often overridden to approve spurious development proposals. Letter, 5 Dec 2017 Norman Harris, Umina