The unrelenting overdevelopment massacre throughout the Shire and Sydney are out of control. The mass number of units being built is absurd and will undoubtedly have a significant negative impact on the area/community. Have developers been given the green light on all D/As they apply for? Yet applications for minor additions to homes are often denied or hard to get approval. Who is responsible for approving this ridiculous amount and why? Do the people approving them live in the Shire or Sydney? Our town planners planning properly? Any thought of ramifications? Where was the community consultation to get feedback from residents and share updates on plans and proposals? A construction boom is beneficial; building more units is inevitable and progressive, but not built at this rate, not all during a short/similar time frame and crammed close to other blocks.
A desperately needed pause on building large blocks should be implemented so crucial infrastructure upgrades/additions could have been carried out before this disgraceful overdevelopment. The appropriate pause would allow councils to assess the impact it is having on the area/community. This assessment would question how vital infrastructure is coping. It would examine roads, lack of parking, the strain on public transport, resources. Also essential services, i.e. Schools, Hospitals, Policing etc., the inevitable increase in crime, waste and soon to be unprecedented traffic congestion/chaos, which will impact family life/living, work etc. immensely.
Brent Robbins,
Gymea
Cover up, girls!
It is about time the council followed Manly Council's lead - please ban the 'G' string swimwear in places other than the beach - do we really have to face all those naked posteriors on trains (unhygienic to say the least) in shops and on streets - we are definitely not prudes, but please girls!
Margaret 0berg, Caringbah
Shifting Party allegiance
I am not a supporter of the current Government, nor have I voted for them via my local MP. So I accept that some will credit my criticism to my moral and political views. But I think that those in the electorate of Hughes who voted in Craig Kelly in May 2019 were doing so to shore up the Morrison Liberal/National Government's stocks.
They voted for Kelly not because they necessarily supported his views on various global issues, most notably climate change and our approach to dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. That is an understandable result in a first past the post-election process, but it does not support the ongoing tenure of someone who now proclaims himself as an "independent".
We need to look urgently at a mechanism to empower the electorate to remove or at least question a sitting member who has, most likely, lost his voting base due to the shifting of his party allegiance.
Michael Bleasdale,
Engadine
The inefficiency of school buses
My children attend Shire Christian school.
I wanted to share my experience of a recent morning.
Over 15 students who were present at the bus stop before the bus arrived at Sutherland station were stranded as they could not fit on the 0835 bus. These high school students were late for school.
The bus was overcrowded and primary students were standing in the aisle.
This is unacceptable.
Despite the school asking for another early 0835 bus, it has been rejected.
Families must travel together for the peace of mind of the parent.
Primary students need senior "bus buddies" to feel safe on the bus.
I am very concerned about the inefficiency of local school buses.
Bree Young,
Caringbah
Mismanagement of the Miranda environment
This busy area in Miranda at the intersection of Port Hacking RD and the Boulevarde has been hard hit environmentally in so many ways. Recently the council removed all the garden beds of both large garden spaces at the most prominent intersection in Miranda. In an area under huge stress from traffic and development. Now recently, in this same area, I have seen three mature trees removed and a very large/mature gum virtually decimated. Good environmental management it is not. Good environmental management takes in many aspects and considerations, including tree canopy and tree maturity issues for that specific area. Not to mention habitat and liveability for residents.
Ann Mckay,
Miranda
