Bunnings belongs in Bega
For those who want a Bunnings in this area that is fine, but not at Tura Beach. This is a residential area, not an industrial one.
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The proposed site is right next door to retirement village and the constant traffic with delivery trucks and customers will have a detrimental affect on the residents there.
The intersection of Tura Beach Drive and Sapphire Coast Drive is already a dangerous one. It will be made much more so with the extra traffic being generated by Bunnings being there.
Bega has a designated industrial area and there are other sites as well in this area that would be much more suitable for such a development. If the anonymous tradesman who wrote to the MNW last week is willing to go to Canberra to buy cheap products then a drive to Bega should not be a problem for him.
We agree with the reasons that the NSW Planning and Environment Department gave when it refused the rezoning of two blocks of land at Tura Beach to allow a Bunnings store to be built there. It ruled “There is a need to protect the character of Tura Beach, rezoning was incompatible with the existing neighbourhood business precinct, there was a potential conflict with the adjoining seniors living development and Bega was the main regional centre”.
In 2016 when the members of the Bega Valley Council were discussing this matter one councillor made a cogent point opposing the plan to site the warehouse at Tura Beach. He said that as not all the land would be used by Bunnings it would leave the way open for other development along Sapphire Coast Drive. This would create a precedent for more undesirable industrial development.
Please do not accuse us of being NIMBYs. We chose to live in a this beautiful spot, not expecting it to be turned into an industrial area. If we wanted to live with constant traffic and heavy vehicles around us we would have stayed in the city. Residential areas are not suitable for such businesses.
If Bunnings were to be built in Bega the opportunity for jobs would not be lost and customers would be able to buy the cheap goods they want.
Eileen and Lindsay Pearson, Tura Beach
Potoroo manipulation
The front page of last week’s MNW incorrectly described the presence of long-nosed potoroos at The Point Tura Beach. Local Greens needed a mechanism to thwart proposals by the North Tura Beach Residents Association (NTBRA) for the access to North Tura Beach to be classed as parklands; to be the “gateway” to the beach, where the zoning is exactly the same as the Tura Beach Golf Course, Short Point, Spencer Park, Ford Park and even Berambool Oval.
By conjuring up the presence of the potoroo the Greens successfully manipulated council to maintain the unsightly re-growth in this area, once grasslands. The just published Site Management Plan contains a copy of a letter to Andrew Morrison, BVSC natural assets officer, from a Dr Damon Oliver of the Office of Environment and Heritage which states, “There are numerous records of long-nosed potoroo in the vicinity of The Point, and regular potoroo sightings are reported by community members in the area”.
The Atlas Of Living Australia website which is maintained by the CSIRO, describes both the long-nosed potoroo and the pygmy possum in the local area; both were sighted in the area of Mandeni Park in February and March 2010. A further sighting of a potoroo was in 2015 at Wallagoot Lake.
There appears to have been no official sightings of either animals from Merimbula along the coast to Wallagoot. Believe me if there was a potoroo at The Point Mr Morrison’s secret cameras would have provided photographic evidence! And so the whole green edifice is shown, as usual, to be a great big furphy.
It is time the community stood up for its right to restore lost public recreation open space by rejecting the one-sided BVSC SMP in favour of a revised more balanced and accurate version.
Chris Young, Tura Beach
Plan meets needs of all
Thank you to all councillors for their support of the process culminating in the production of the Site Management Plan (SMP) for the coastal reserve at The Point and Dolphin Cove. The council produced this plan after widespread consultation with the community.
The SMP supports the formation of a volunteer group which will unite the community in caring for the coastal reserve. The SMP meets the council’s responsibilities to protect the coastal reserve and also meets the needs of the entire community, with the inclusion of all weather paths to the viewing platforms, emergency vehicle access, disabled parking, and a safe fire protection zone.