The Nature Coast Alliance ran a public information stall at Granite Town on Saturday 6 October 2018. The aim was to raise further awareness of the highly controversial Rural Lands Planning Proposal that was recently endorsed by Eurobodalla Shire Council but needs final approval from the NSW Planning Minister before it can be enacted.
Spokesperson Ms Kathryn Maxwell said, “We explained to those who came to our stall, the devastating impacts that will come from removing a number of critical environmental protections on rural land under Council’s plans to substantially amend Eurobodalla's Local Environment Plan, the planning blueprint for the Shire.”
“It is fantastic that more than 150 Granite Town participants signed a letter to our local NSW MP the Hon. Andrew Constance, MP for Bega, urging him to ask the NSW Minister for Planning, Anthony Roberts, to reject the Planning Proposal.”
“Mr Noel Plumb, Convenor of the Alliance said, “The community is concerned that these changes, if adopted, will threaten water quality, oyster farms and the long term health and beauty of our unspoilt natural environment. Protecting this landscape from overdevelopment is essential to our Shire economy which is founded on nature based tourism, including recreational fishing, and the oyster industry.”
“The Alliance can confirm that, to date, over 400 letters to Andrew Constance have been signed by concerned residents and visitors to the Eurobodalla Nature Coast. We hope that Mr Constance and the Minister are more responsive than the Council which has insisted on pushing these changes through, despite some 1000 formal written objections by members of the community since May and strong objections from six State Government agencies over the past three years”.
Above: Doggedly determined to save the Nature Coast – from left to right - Catherine Potter, Alison Worthington, Thomas Schild, “Dog”, Robert Cove and Kathryn Maxwell.