Progress is quite different

It has been reported in local papers that the Council has voted to remove any building height restrictions in Ettalong and Umina.

I attended a well-attended community meeting about this issue at Ettalong a few months ago and came away convinced that this is not what the community prefers, far from it.

They don't want another Gold Coast.

There were some people there who expressed the grossly erroneous view that "high-rise equals progress", something that "we need to have".

As one who lived some 20 years on the Far North Coast of NSW, let me assure you that the opposite is true.

Thanks particularly to the local Greens, the message that "high rise equals progress" was consigned to the dustbin there and sustainable development plans, up the three stories maximum, was introduced.

"Progress" now means something quite different!

That region is now a model for the rest of Australia, although every attempt is made by developers to revert to their old ways and values as the corrupt behaviour in Tweed demonstrates.

From the behaviour of the pro-developer Gosford Council, we learn that local government needs to be strengthened by paying local councillors so that more independent citizens can represent the community and their current values.

I will support the petition to the NSW Local Government Minister, by Bryan Ellis (Save Our Suburbs Central Coast), to initiate an inquiry into the conduct of this council.

Klaas Woldring, Pearl Beach