Survey's big issue omitted
I COMPLETED the Lake Macquarie City Council Toronto Foreshore Master Plan survey online and would question its relevance. There was no inclusion of what is considered the big issue, the council's proposed high-rise development at Bath Street. This is a serious omission. Without any reference to the most contentious of development proposals, council could potentially say that they succeeded in appeasing the locals with their development plans by quoting the survey results. I am for the Bath Street site being public usage and not for a few Sydneysiders revelling in their weekender nor council degrading the foreshore.
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- John King, Toronto
Speedway not noisy
I WRITE in response to the letter from G Davis ("No speedway for Morisset", Lakes Mail, July 18) talking about senior citizens in the area who only want peace and quiet and walking paths. Well, as a 76-year-old senior who spent more than 20 years racing motorbikes throughout NSW and the ACT, I can tell you it is not a noisy, smelly sport at all. It is possibly less noisy than horse racing and the football matches which can be heard from miles away.
Many of the larger country towns support motor racing. Our area is already very well supplied with lovely parks and walking paths. I for one am still a healthy and completely alive 76 year old and I certainly don't ever want Morisset to become an above-ground graveyard.
- Cliff Coverdale, Cooranbong
Homes will stop speedway
IN recent months there has been a call by some people in the community to bring the speedway back to Morisset Showground. According to them, there was a speedway on that site a number of years ago.
Over the last couple of years we have seen numerous homes and apartment buildings rise up on land directly around the showground, with more being built or awaiting approval. These people have purchased there without a speedway being located close to their homes. (It would be different if the speedway was already in operation at the time they purchased and built.)
I believe the noise from a speedway would be a very unwelcome intrusion now that homes are right next to, or very close by, the showground. I am sure most local residents would agree. I expect it would also negatively impact home values in that area. A built-up area is not the location for a speedway. I have known them to usually be situated in a rural setting due to the noise problem.
- R Malkiewycz, Morisset
Energy grid future
CARL Stevenson ("Renewables don't stack up", Lakes Mail, July 25) states 11 solar panels will not power the average family home, but we have the equivalent of 15 modern solar panels on our property and, averaged over a year, we consume 65 per cent of the power they generate (9.75 panels' output). The remainder goes to the grid.
While the installation of household rooftop solar continues to grow rapidly, many companies, factories and shopping centres are increasingly achieving substantial savings by installing large rooftop solar systems, or signing Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) to take a proportion of the output from the many new wind and solar plants. The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) who plan and operate the National Energy Grid (NEG) have just revised their Integrated System Plan (ISP) which details the future of the grid over the next few decades.
That future sees no new coal plants, with renewables gradually assuming the majority share of power generation as existing coal-fired plants retire. System reliability will be maintained using dispatchable power from a range of technologies, including normal and pumped hydro, large scale and household batteries, synchronous condensers, biomass and fast-start gas plants.
- Richard Mallaby, Wangi Wangi