We should all have the opportunity to participate

Matthew Wales has already decided that the Woy Woy Master Plan (possibly to be sighted some time in 2020, if the Council's not-to-be-relied-on schedule has any meaning at all) should concentrate on "residential accommodation that complements the retail and commercial base" ("Encourage development in Woy Woy, says Chamber", PN edition 436, Jan 15).

This extraordinary degree of insight into a planning process that hasn't even been commenced yet perhaps matches Mr Wales's enthusiasms for other arbitrarily chosen planning directions (eg the Bangalow St Wharf) that are arrived at without any framework of analysis or consideration of options.

I could equally assert that the Woy Woy Master Plan should concentrate on achieving a dynamic and varied high-density residential precinct, with whatever limited supporting retail and commercial development is appropriate, and have just as much chance as (I think more chance than) Mr Wales of being right.

It goes without saying that the present Woy Woy centre is a mess and that it isn't likely our Council is going to make much of an improvement of it, given the record in other cases.

Why it should take until 2020 to arrive at whatever end-point the Council has in mind is baffling, but let us hope that the process involves more than "property owners, local professionals and business people" who are, apparently, the only ones Mr Wales thinks are worth consulting.

There are other people in Woy Woy, and we should all have the same opportunity to participate in whatever decisions are to be taken.

Email, 16 Jan 2017

Bruce Hyland, Woy Woy.