DEAR News Of The Area,
YOUR front-page article “Bellingen poised for affordable housing history” lacked one very important inconvenient fact: that the “parcel of public land” chosen as the site of this initial project is actually a much-loved little piece of original Urunga bushland, long used as a delightful de-facto park by nearby residents, and an irreplaceable asset to this area of Urunga.
Children play here, dogs are walked here; I’ve seen people walk off the street to hug the trees, some being magnificent old towering eucalypts, and numerous other tree species and understorey.
Together they provide a home and refuge for many native animals and birds.
It is incomprehensible to me and others how anyone could even contemplate destroying this treasure, and only to end up with a very inferior building block hard up against the railway boundary fence.
I’ve been told that this sacrifice needs to be made “for the greater good”, but on reflection I realised that there is no “greater good” – the only “good” will go to a lucky couple of home-seekers who may get a cheaper house.
For the wider Bellingen Shire there is absolutely no tangible or material benefit whatsoever.
It is arrogant and contemptuous in the extreme for Bellingen Council and Waterfall Way Community Land Trust to presume to take and destroy this community asset, with no consultation or communication at all with the people affected.
The good feeling some will no doubt have for this proposal should not come at the cost of the residents of Urunga, nor should this charming part of Urunga’s suburban environment be destroyed forever.
Houses can be built in many places, but a little plot like this is unique and priceless.
At the least an alternative site must be found.
If there isn’t one then surely this project must be doomed.
Yours sincerely,
Peter DINGLE,
Urunga.
