Council Staff face Dalmeny community Ire

Letter to the Editor - The Beagle Weekly published 17 Dec 2021 https://www.beagleweekly.com.au/post/council-staff-face-dalmeny-community-ire

Dear Beagle Editor

Today I attended a meeting arranged by council staff at one of the road access points to the 100 hectares plus of forest land, being primed for urban development, that backs the village of Dalmeny.

This 'walk through the forest' and ask questions of the 'consultants' initiative had been postponed since a week ago, as it was too rainy and wet to do so.

No rain present today, and as it turned out, no 'consultants' either.

No show from the G.M or any of others of the Executive Leadership Team. There were however two Divisional Managers, from the next tier down of council management present. There were also two more staff from the engineering area, and two from the planning team.

The task of introducing and leading the walk through the forest jaunt however, was left to one of the staff from the planning team,whose status was below the top three tiers of management.

The planned one hour allocated for the walking exercise, went by without one single step being taken from the initial meeting point by anyone.

One of the planning team staff members as the 'Face of the Council Bureaucracy', faced a barrage of questions and sometimes passionate comments from the assembled group of around 50 or so. She valiantly, in an always professional manner, tried to handle such questions, with the occasional assistance of the (mostly by-standing) more senior two Divisional Managers. I have genuine admiration for that staff member who was placed in a position, that she should have not been.

After about an hour and 15 minutes , well past the proposed end time of the whole exercise, a small group of the remaining residents, finally set off for a 10 minute stroll through a wee bit of the land due for clearing. I note that it takes me around an hour to give my dogs a decent walk that covers not even close to half of the boundary, with short excursions into the creeks and gullies, of this 100 hectares plus of forest/bush land.

I trust anyone present may have some comments. If not my only contribution to the gathering was to advise all, as I have done previously via The Beagle, was of the potential awful environmental impact this development will have on the whole Mummaga Lake ecosystem. See below link:

https://www.beagleweekly.com.au/post/mummaga-lake-what-isn-t-being-said

Cheers. Pat McGinlay

Above: The forest that is now to be felled and developed with an estimate of 200 or more houses in Lot 2 alone. Council currently have a Draft Coastal Estuary Management Plan for Moruya River, Mummaga Lake and Wagonga Inlet that is open for submissions until until 5 January 2022