What would Port Macquarie look like in 2050?

Where I agree with long term planning, I fear this invitation is somewhat of a smokescreen.

Council and developers will argue that that the way out of our current malaise is to build and build more, creating jobs, putting money in the pockets of all the tradies in town. Not unlike the Morrison Government plan for a gas led recovery. Both are hip pocket reactions and lack long term planning. It is just more of the same.

In any long term planning we must decide what a future Port Macquarie should look like. Do we want to maintain a semi-rural atmosphere, or do we want to be a city? Judging by the traffic jams we are well on the way to becoming a city.

Under the heading 'making progress', the development plans to clear acres of land between Port and Wauchope will create ugly suburbs, with basic infrastructure lagging. Roads will be choked with traffic, parking in town will become impossible, our environment will be destroyed, our flora and fauna will lose their habitat, curl up their toes and die. Some progress!

Progress in my view is looking at all possible avenues to conserve what we have. The idea that we must have growth at all costs is ludicrous and no longer tenable in today's economic environment. We must put people and the environment before money. Otherwise we will destroy ourselves and our way of life.

I suggest that a good starting point in planning for the future is to put a cap on the number of people we can comfortably accommodate in Port Macquarie within the current infrastructure.

This means that we must put planned land developments on ice, until we have decided to stay semi-rural or become a city. This is not just a decision for Council to make, we should all get involved. Referendum anyone?

Hans von Chrismar

Port Macquarie