My parents, Will and Janet Pitty, are elderly residents of Swan St in Bega.  

Will is aged 89 while Janet is aged 87. 

Will walks with the aid of two walking sticks. 

Daily exercise is an important part of managing his health conditions. 

Janet regularly walks to the shops to maintain her health and mobility.

When they moved to their home in Swan St 14 years ago, it was a quiet street with little traffic flow.  

Their house and the neighbouring property were zoned residential.

The Bega Valley Shire Council approved (by a margin of one vote) the development and construction of a drive-through fast food business on the corner of Swan St and Carp St (with the large driveway in Swan St).

This development encroached on residential land. 

The drive-through fast food business attracts relatively high volumes of traffic.

During construction, contractors dug up the land on the verge outside the home of Will and Janet Pitty (to lay pipes and cables) leaving an uneven surface, unsafe to walk upon, particularly for the elderly.

My parents have asked council to provide footpaths along the length of Swan St.

It is a short street. 

Council has not provided footpaths. 

There is no safe route for elderly pedestrians.

Following representations to local MP Andrew Constance, Will and Janet Pitty were advised that the BVSC has suspended its footpath construction program.

The BVSC claims to be both “a liveable place” and “an accessible place”. 

The BVSC website says that “a liveable place” means “to support a place where everyone regardless of age or circumstance can enjoy a safe, involved and community life” while “an accessible place” means “to plan and provide a comprehensive mix of public and private sector services in order that residents and visitors have access to the quality health, recreation, education, employment, transport, utility and retail resources they want and need”.

 How can the council claim to be both “liveable” and “accessible” if it has suspended the footpath construction program?

It seems the Bega Valley is an accessible place if you are a big foreign multinational developer, but not if you are elderly local residents trying to live out the rest of their lives in peace with exercise.

Surely, some footpaths in Swan St are not too much to ask for?

Hugh Pitty 

Bega

Considering the recent hype surrounding the new Bega Valley Hospital at Glen Mia, has any thought been given to turning the old Auckland St facility, once vacated, into a fully functional TAFE complex for the region? 

Mike Stebbings

Eden

While president of the Bega Chamber of Commerce and small business operator Mal Barnes is perfectly entitled to support the hospitality sector campaign against “excessive” penalty rates, its campaign might win more sympathy if it was less self-serving (BDN, 2/4).

Running “scare campaigns” about penalty rates obviously makes for good headlines, but ignores the fact that small business places wages and penalty rates well down on its list of biggest concerns, behind things such as insufficient demand, rent, government taxes and charges, and access to finance.

While Mr Barnes was reported as saying that his business would open “only for limited hours and with family members” over Easter, as a competent businessman he would surely appreciate his legal obligations to pay his employees appropriate award rates, including penalties, regardless of whether they are family members or not, which suggests to me that other trading factors and not just the cost of penalty rates may have been informing his decisions.

John Richardson

Wallagoot