Letters

It’s time for de-amalgamation

Ed, The decision by the Regional Planning Board to approve Council’s super depot in Grafton was as always, a foregone conclusion. Like their decision regarding the supermarket in Maclean, demonstrably wrong “opinions” submitted by Council override firm evidence provided by opponents of the proposal. The decision has done little for the credibility of either the Board or the Council. Here we have Council’s administration presenting a plan for Depot rationalisation being accepted by councillors and the Regional Planning Board without anyone asking the obvious question: “Where is the Depot rationalisation plan for the Clarence Valley as a whole and how does the Grafton Depot proposal fit into it?” You have presented one for Grafton Depots but there is no connection with any overall Valley wide plan for the efficient and cost effective delivery of works over the rest of the Valley. The obvious conclusions are that either Council doesn’t anticipate works of any significance being carried out anywhere other than Grafton, or once again their administration don’t have the capacity to develop an integrated Valley wide plan. But the real obscenity is in the strategy to fund this idiocy by selling off local community assets throughout the Valley. The call for De-Amalgamation grows louder and the bumper stickers “Liberate The Lower Clarence – DE-AMALGAMATE” seem to be growing in popularity at a rapid rate. Ian Saunders, Maclean