Before ditching the venue, send councillors on a fact-finding mission to see how other similar venues are set up - Nowra, Wollongong, Wagga. There must be some way of enlivening the space and making it work.

There must be an election coming up this year. It appears that our southern based councillors/council are calling for their support from the electorate in the south. If these councillors are truly about cost savings, then what about the biggest white elephant, the Sapphire Aquatic Centre? If we closed this, we could save over $1million a year.

Also, what about the waste management? Why not do what the administration staff firstly suggested and shut the Merimbula Waste and Recycling Depot? This was a cost saving measure, but no, our southern councillors didn't want that to happen!

Let's just hope we get an equally balanced council to be able to represent the whole of the shire, not just their electoral base.

I support the calls by our federal MP Kristy McBain for action in regard to the recurrent problem of road closures on Brown Mountain following weather related landslips. I note also the issues for freight carriers using Brown Mountain raised by Mayor Russell Fitzpatrick, who has called for an alternate route that guarantees those freight movements and also transport movements for residents on a permanent basis irrespective of rain.

I support this call, but suggest that the alternative route should be one with less vulnerability to closure by weather related landslips. The best solution to this problem which would offer many other advantages is for the alternative route to be by rail. A route for a railway would need to follow a substantially different route than the one taken by the Brown Mountain road, which although potentially longer in distance would be substantially safer due to using less steep inclines as required by rail. The average faster speeds attained by trains would most likely more than compensate for a less direct but safer and more reliable route.

Given that climate change means an increased likelihood of the road closures occurring, it also makes sense to shift our energy use for long-distance transport through our region away from road on to rail. It is now time to re-invigorate the century-old plan to bring a railway into the Bega Valley to ensure vital transport links remain open in times of extreme weather events that will cause road-closing landslips.

The Cuttagee Bridge is an iconic structure in the Bega Valley. It is much more than just a piece of 'roadway infrastructure'.

It is a significant recreational and cultural asset which draws visitors, especially family groups (including mine), from well beyond the Bega Valley. We don't want to turn the Bermagui-Tathra Road into another dangerous highway. We already have a perfectly good root suitable for heavy vehicles, namely, the Princes Highway.

If Cuttagee Bridge goes then the old Murrah and Wapengo Creek bridges will be next to go. These old one lane bridges are the best speed control devices we have.

I propose that a 60kmh speed limit be imposed from the northern approach to the Cuttagee Bridge along the the entire length of Cuttagee Beach (and possibly through the residential zone of Barragga Bay), in recognition of the value of this coastal strip as an important recreational and cultural precinct.

I also propose that a suitable and sustainable weight limit be placed upon on these iconic one lane timber bridges (ie Cuttagee, Murrah, and Wapengo) and that all heavy traffic, including logging trucks, be diverted to the Princes Highway.

I think the funding should be returned to the NSW government until such time as the BVSC can properly demonstrate to the public as to the the need to replace this iconic structure. Alternatively, these funds should be used to restore the Cuttagee Bridge in its current form to a standard suitable for 'lighter' vehicles only.