LEADER READER LETTERS: Thank you for kindness in this difficult time

We have been told by our doctor to stay home as we such high risk people because of our ages. So we are doing that.

However, Coles have not been delivering groceries to people's homes and there is no click and collect. This means that the only way we could get our groceries was for us to go to the shops ourselves. Not a good idea. (This not delivering is not the fault of Coles as they are doing their best. It is the fault of the panic buyers.)

Our neighbours two doors up have been going to the shops for us. It takes them a couple of hours a week but they have been doing it or us with great kindness and care. In these times when there are these selfish horrid people panic buying and causing chaos there are people who are more than kind and are willing to give of themselves to help other people. It restores your faith in humanity.

But that isn't the end of the story. We have been inundated with neighbours and friends texting and emailing to offer us assistance. I have been so very touched by their kindness. How can you thank people who are so willing to put their own needs aside to help more vulnerable people. They didn't need to offer to help but they did.

One other thing is that one of the people who lives quite a way from The Shire and has to work hard for a living but even so has found time a couple of times to offer his help is a Lebanese Muslim. What a wonderful caring person he is. I'm proud that he is my friend.

This virus has proved to my husband and myself how blessed we are and that our friends and neighbours are genuine kind and caring people and their kindness should be shown to the world as a statement that things are not that bad.

Katie Norton

Regarding the Your Say piece on Gymea parking this week, I agree with Ms Stanford that the council should take into consideration those of us who want to travel to the city or other destinations mid-week avoiding the peak travel times, parking at Jannali or Sutherland is neigh on impossible. From Bonnet Bay, I have used the local bus on numerous occasions to Jannali Station only to find on return that the next bus is more than an hours wait or I just missed the last service.

Considering the number of units and flats in the area and more being built our parking is becoming premium. The carpark at back of Flemings on Box Road used to allow 4 hours parking which at a stretch was time enough to get into town for a meeting, now 2 hour limits have imposed so parking there is no longer viable. I am an active pensioner without a disabled pass and would like to be free to get out and about as I please.

D Conlon, Bonnet Bay

Claims by Allen Sammut and Chris Feros in favour of their Monro Park Development (The Leader, 4 March 2020) are not supported by the facts.

The 2015 Local Environment Plan (LEP) was adopted overwhelmingly by the then Council.

The 11 Liberals all voted for it. They set the maximum height limits on this site at 25 metres (7 storeys). The LEP took into account all relevant factors including accommodation targets set by the NSW Department of Planning, the need to encourage tourism, the special character of Cronulla shopping centre and the heritage aspects of the precinct including Monro Park and Cronulla Railway station.

Nothing has changed to warrant a 100 per cent increase in the height limit to 14 storeys - just four years after the LEP was adopted.

Mr Sammut claims that Council and the Sutherland Shire Local Planning Panel (SSLPP) support the proposal. Not true! Both Council staff and the SSLPP expressed serious concern with the height and density of the proposal, the shortfall in parking, the impact on traffic flows, the potential precedent for other sites and overshadowing of Monro Park.

They both recommended that the developer revise the proposal. Mr Sammut claims that the proposal has the "full support of the Cronulla Chamber of Commerce". Not true!

In a letter dated 2 October 2019 the Chamber Executive Committee indicated support for the "concept" of a hotel on the site but stated "Our main concern is the compliance of the development within Council DA guidelines and the potential precedence (sic) that exceptions create."

That is not "full support"!

Mr Feros, who announced that his hotel group would run the hospitality part of the proposed development says he would like to see something like the "Coogee Pavilion" on the site. Sounds attractive! The Coogee Pavilion is three storeys plus a roof top bar - not 14 storeys!

Mr Sammut and Mr Feros also attacked myself and other Labor Councillors claiming that our opposition is "political". It's not. I and my colleagues oppose this proposed development because it is a huge increase in the current height and density limits and because of the other serious impacts on the amenity of this area and the precedent it will set for other sites near the Cronulla CBD.

In contrast, all Liberal Councillors voted to support the development proposal ignoring the LEP which they had previously adopted. The community is entitled to ask "why?" Monro Park is a well-loved and frequented open space at the end of our shopping centre. It is a peaceful oasis with the War Memorial as its centre. It should not be overshadowed and dominated by a 14 storey high-rise building. I am not opposed to a development on this site that complies with the LEP, activates and improves this area, provides an upgraded pathway through to Cronulla beach and protects the park and memorial.

This proposal fails that basic test and should be rejected.

Councillor Michael Forshaw

I feel terribly sorry for our NRL players not wanting to take a salary cut. One player said he was most concerned because he had a mortgage to pay (boo hoo). What about the poor people on $500 a week and have lost their job, they have a mortgage to pay as well. Come on boys, wake up, some are getting a million dollars a year in payments. Take a pay cut, say $2000 a week, you could still pay your mortgage payments and have a little leftover. Robert May, Sutherland