Regarding the Bournda quarry application, the supporting documentation is not sufficiently detailed, is in parts conflicted, and does not provide objective evidence and confidence that reopening the quarry and allowing blasting operations will not cause very significant detrimental impacts to the sensitive surrounding environment, wildlife, flora species, and livability of the Bournda area. This DA is for a major industrial proposal within a sensitive rural setting (E3/E4) and therefore a fully independent Environmental Impact Assessment should be conducted to provide a much higher level of scrutiny and understanding of the possible very detrimental impacts.

This quarry on E3 zoned land closed 11 years ago, the biodiversity report being used is 17 years out of date, written in 2004, it borders a nature reserve with endangered birds species, the noise report is amusing as there was no blasting at the original quarry and it is using a quarry in the Eurobodalla to support it. Looking at air quality and noise from blasting and machinery and hours of operation make this development totally inappropriate for the small rural property owners in this area and one would hope council rejects the development.

Regarding changing of housing lot sizes, it ruins quality of life for everyone if there is not sufficient outside play area for children. It is better for developers to build smaller rooms in a house to accommodate more people but wall to wall housing means less green space and less outdoor recreation - critical for long term public health.

Why is everyone not up in arms over Bega Valley Shire Council? It's incredible to think they are intending to spend over nine million dollars on council premises when they are in so much debt despite rates having been increased again.

They have had ample time to fix the Merimbula Bar, but haven't. This means our whale watching boats cannot go over the bar and with the whale season around the corner, more lost business for the boat owners and Merimbula town at a time when business is on its knees. Nine million dollars would help alleviate those who are living in vans and tents! Come on people. Raise your voices to call out when you see things that are inaccurate, unfair or irresponsible.

I oppose to planning department proposal regarding changing the minimum site areas for housing in the Bega Valley (BV).

I appreciate that there is a need for long term rental property. However, I disagree that this demand is related to supply.

Firstly, the infrastructure of the BV is not designed and cannot cater for large numbers of minimum wage or casual employment opportunities in the way that large cities can. The answer is then, not to turn the BV into a city with large amounts of housing, but to create more substantial job opportunities. The influx of new residents to the BV due to high property values in cities, fires, COVID and working from home, as well as the attraction of the beauty that is living here has meant that more money is to be made by selling homes or short term holiday lets rather than long term rentals. Like everything, it's about money.

Building more homes crowded on top of one another is not necessarily going to result in more long term rentals being available, but it will 100 per cent result in developers making more money and in turn, wreck the beauty that attracts people to BV in the first place. This is a mistake that cannot be undone. Perhaps a tax on holiday lets would be more prudent?

There is a great deal of misinformation or 'fake news' in the media and the stories about the NPWS's broad acre burns fit those criteria (BDN, Aug 16 and 20). The claim that the Mimosa Rocks burn will "help to limit the potential spread of wildfire", is not supported by credible science. The fact is the burning is part of the NPWS's "enhanced burning program" aimed at burning all national parks every 20 years, irrespective of negative outcomes on threatened species.

Prior to Europeans, the biodiversity in forest ecosystems maintained soil fertility and animals that buried forest litter played a significant role in this process. Most gardeners understand the need to add compost and manure to maintain soil fertility for optimal growth. Consistent with this understanding, the limited information available on the NPWS's failed attempts to grow koala feed trees indicates "burning has negatively impacted soil surface conditions and this may have impacts on plant growth and soil health".

Burning does not protect biodiversity, rather it robs the soils of the organic matter required to maintain soil fertility, so only tree species adapted to poorer soil conditions will grow. Methods that would provide greater certainty properties would be more defendable in case of an unplanned burn are not considered. The Mimosa burn is adjacent to one of only three koala sightings since the drought and bushfires. Whether there were koalas in the area is not known, but the burn does confirm a whole of government approach to eliminating them.