Essentially this policy is minimal interference, not a single renegade leaf must be touched.

Councils are regularly criticised for some of their activities eg: dodgy planning decisions etc and in fact our council has in the past received some unfair criticism over its attempts to fertilise the Western Pacific through its sewerage system.

The coastal reserve policy could just be a money saver but I would like to think that it is part of council’s contribution to saving the planet and especially the endangered lorikeet whose tree hollow nesting sites can take up to a thousand years to develop.

This policy has resulted in a massive buildup of combustible material on the forest floor and when the big fire comes it should eliminate at least half the houses in Pambula Beach and no one will want to rebuild.

This may seem a bit drastic but it will allow for a massive expansion of the reserve and let's face it a lot of these houses aren’t that attractive anyway.

You can say what you like about our council but you can never question its green credentials.

I write to give vent to the considerable disquiet felt by my parents about the problems caused for them by the exceptionally noisy monster truck event held nearby at the Bega Recreation Ground on New Year’s Day.

Will and Janet Pitty, who are aged 91 and 89 and have lived in Swan St for the past 17 years, experienced the most unwelcome disruption to their enjoyment of the public holiday due to the monster truck event blasting sounds of revving engines and sonic booms (that shook the house) into their residential neighbourhood which is only a short distance away. 

In addition to the noise, they had the imposition of one carload of patrons of the event parking on the front verge outside their home which blocked the passage, meaning people were unable to come or go from their home.

Such behaviour is just plain rude.

It also shows that inadequate parking was available for the event.

One wonders why the event was given approval to be staged at the Bega Recreation Ground when more suitable venues for such an extremely noisy event exist well away from the residential area. 

The noise from the Bega Recreation Ground went on between 6.30pm and 9pm.

This is an unfair imposition on local residents, particularly the elderly.

Many elderly residents live close by at Hillgrove House.

The Bega Valley Shire Council claims the area is “a liveable place” – the monster truck event on New Year’s Day made a mockery of this claim with the unreasonable noise levels being foisted upon local residents without any notice, let alone consultation.

When the monster truck event goes to Perth in March it will be staged at a motorsport facility.

Given this, Bega Valley Shire Council should answer why the organisers of the event were not directed to hold their event at the speedway at Tantawangalo.

I don't want to poo poo the Pambula Wetlands area but by planting so many trees you have:-

Taken away my wonderful view of the flats

Made a fire hazard

Made a nice home for thousands of bats (check out the area at sunset and again the noise at sunrise)

Maybe a rethink is needed

Any suggestions?