I'm sure visitors to the area don't mind giving way to south-bound drivers and their kids in the back seat probably get a kick out of the rumble the car makes as it goes over the old boards.

Given the fact that technology has progressed to the point that builders can construct high rise buildings using wood, surely the council could replace it with a new wooden bridge that will last as long as the current one has.

Cuttagee bridge is iconic to the Far South Coasts character and identity. Change to the Cuttagee bridge is not simply about engineering and dollars. The outcome will have implications for community identity, heritage conservation, road and land-use planning and tourism.

We the community have been conspicuously excluded from the discussion. Instead of being received as a leg up, the community is reeling with consternation - why are we being afflicted with one more trauma and by those we should be able to trust.

Without authentic community consultation it is impossible to have informed discussion of heritage and planning, safety and practical issues.

A big concrete replacement bridge would inevitably introduce pressure to upgrade and replace the Murrah, Wapengo and Tanja heritage wooden bridges and turn the Bermagui to Tathra scenic drive into a main thoroughfare...more traffic, large trucks, road kill and further upgrading.

We do need a workable bridge. Some solutions to securing practicality, safety, low maintenance and heritage values, involve modification to the existing structure. Deck lamination as used in the Snowy Mountains or concrete pier underpinnings as employed on the Murrah bridge.

These and other options need to be publicly aired and require retention of the existing structure until authentic consultation is complete.

And yet state funding appears conditional on the demolition of the existing heritage structure. To qualify, council has conceded hastily and under duress. It must have the courage to rescind its motion to demolish our heritage bridge and stand behind the community for a proper consultation process. The department, by insisting cash is available only for complete replacement, has misjudged and overstepped the mark. They stand to alienate the very community they seek to assist.

Andrew Constance must step up and regain the trust of his electors by seeing that the heritage destroying funding condition is removed. He must trust our community to decide wisely on the most fitting upgrade for our much loved Cuttagee bridge.

Heritage brings people - Wallaga Lake bridge was featured in a movie - think a bit more BVSC. Where are the dollars coming from to do this work? Is it Cobargo's recovery fund? Why are all the other towns getting fixed up and Cobargo gets nothing?

Bermagui is getting its toilets knocked down. Could Cobargo have those second-hand toilets please because we don't have one! We still have porta loos with steep metal stairs that disabled, frail and others can't access. Cobargo is bringing people into town and then we don't have a toilet for them to use..

Come on BVSC, are you thoughtless, uncaring and useless? Are you thinking what is like for us? While you plan and spend dollars that need to be put into Cobargo so we feel like you care a little. Not happy BVSC.

Give back our dignity

Fifteen months have passed and poor Cobargo still has no permanent toilets. So sad to see no disabled loos, no toilets in park, kids have to urinate in bush or take them to demountable ones up town, tourists don't stop.

We need support. Bega council are halfway through putting in a sixth permanent toilet block in Bermagui. Come on let's get together for the sake of the Cobargo community. We are on a main highway with only half our town left. Let's give dignity and hope to a small town and give the disabled, the visitors and locals a bit of respect please.

We all waited to see the finale of the bike path, only to be subject to a head on waiting to happen! The crossing has provided a jammed, narrow intersection at Tomigee St, with tradies, trucks and boats swinging into both lanes to enter Bega St.

The bus stop has disappeared, the school bus needs both lanes to access, heading east you can barely see the S-bend smack in the middle of the road as you face ongoing traffic. Both lanes are narrow, people can't use the street to park, bikers will be beside traffic... yet some residents now have two lots of guttering and two double driveways!

Has work stopped so it can all be dug up and put on the other side of the trees? Gee, hope so. What a dangerous ugly mess!

I wish to offer my unconditional thanks to all the doctors and angels at the Bega Hospital and the people in the Ambulance service, for their exceptional help and support during my recent stay. I salute and thank you all!