The Beagle Editor, I have sent the email below to all councillors. It may be of interest to Beagle readers. Good morning Eurobodalla Councillors,
If you were in any doubt about the NSW Coalition Government’s position on “planned retreat”, the attached advice (below) from the Minister for Planning and the Minister for the Environment might be of interest.
As I have said on many occasions, the problem with “planned retreat” is being caused by the NSW Coastal Council and OEH and council bureaucrats who are manipulating the Act to satisfy their own ideologies and agendas.
Firstly, the Coastal Council, headed by Professor Bruce Thom, demonstrates a total disregard for the rights of individuals to protect their coastal properties, as demonstrated by cases in Byron, the mid North Coast and Wamberal on the Central Coast. The Council is anti coastal engineering works, when the success of such an approach is evident all over Queensland, especially on the Gold Coast.
Secondly, OEH bureaucrats have developed a cost benefit analysis that forces consultants examining mitigation options to favour planned retreat over all other options, and in some councils, including our own, council planners are embracing this approach and fostering a coastal retreat culture within their organisations.
The local member Andrew Constance has declared his position on planned retreat. It is now your turn to show your colours on the issue, and I encourage you to take a position that will protect the shire against the adverse economic and social consequences of coastal retreat.
Kind regards
Ian Hitchcock
Eurobodalla Regional Coordinator
NSW coastal Alliance
