Letters Not Published - December 2006

To Sydney Morning Herald
28 December 2006

The Department of Planning, under the "guidance" of the omnipotent Frank Sartor, continues to spread its tentacles throughout our beautiful city. Sydney will cease being beautiful if the Department has its way, and will deteriorate into a cramped, traffic-choked, polluted mass of multi storey developments with inadequate infrastructures and, of course, not enough water to support the inhabitants. Money and power are driving the people behind this overdevelopment of our fair city ... obviously the future of our children and grandchildren doesn't merit a thought.
Jenny Yule,
PUTNEY

To Sydney Morning Herald
26 December 2006

I am so tired of listening to the arguments against sprawl. Yes it is happening here in Hervey Bay also. When are we going to start talking about population growth and a ‘sustainable’ economy not an economy based on eternal growth? If the argument that by building up we retain more open space was true I would not be so opposed to high rise but when examining the reality of what is happening everywhere, especially along our coastal fringe, we simply see all the land taken up by high rise. Setback and site coverage provisions are either inadequate or compromised. Any open space left around a high rise building is undesirable open space. It is constantly in shade, wind swept, leafless and usually not accessible to the general public. Squashing two houses into a block designed for one has the exact same result. High density living equates to ever increasing traffic congestion, less useful open space and no positive outcomes except for increased income to the developers and government (via taxes and rates). High density living steals our sky! A sensible approach to population growth combined with decentralisation is the answer, NOT urban consolidation.

Cr Sue Brooks
Dundowran Beach
Queensland