Lord mayoral candidate Ross Kerridge. Picture by Jonathan Carroll
I’ve never met Ross Kerridge (“Independent’s day”, NH, 20/7), but his concerns about “top-down style of leadership, where projects are announced and everyone is expected to fall into line when there’s been no consultation”, rings true throughout the Hunter.
In the following instance, it’s the Sydney based “top-down decision-makers” who have ignored regional community calls for measured, strategic planning for the development of hard-rock quarries.
The vast majority of the quarry product is destined for projects in the Sydney region – to benefit communities who won’t realise their new function centre or new road has been built at the expense of Port Stephens and MidCoast Koalas, let alone the rural amenity and social fabric of Balickera.
The 10 hard rock quarries either operational or proposed in the Port Stephens and Mid Coast forested hinterland areas, will irreversibly impact and change rural amenity, highly biodiverse wildlife corridors and potentially pollute our valuable water catchments.
The road networks between Raymond Terrace and Karuah that will accommodate the thousands of quarry haulage vehicles proposed are unsafe – both Mid Coast and Port Stephens councils have advocated for major upgrades.
But “top-down” decision-makers feel it’s OK to worry about upgrades down the track.
The trouble with “top-down” decisions is that they always come at a cost to the community, which has, one way or another, been excluded from the planning and decision-making process.
Save Balickera 