More attention needs to be brought to bare on owners of historical sites such as the Maltings that are left to rot and become dangerous sites for inquisitive types looking to a appreciate its history. There should be a use it or lose it (sell) clause on heritage or sites of significance that could be brought back to life for all to enjoy even at a profit to the developers. Simply sitting waiting for council to change zonings to suit your outcome is not in the interest of these types of sites. I appreciate Barry Antsee wants to maximise his return but leaving the site a mess and dangerous and eyesore for the surrounding neighbours is just not being a good neighbour. At least clean up the site Barry. Council should get involved in demanding he clean up the site at the very least.    

One really has to wonder about the decisions made by our current council. This week, at a public meeting, the council voted eight to one to proceed with the Station Street “upgrade”. There are currently close to 3000 of the Bowral rate payers against the decision without approaching the remaining public. This decision will mean:

- 156 trees, including Pin Oaks planted by local kids decades ago could be cut down

- About 100 current car parks used by train commuters and town workers could be lost

- A good deal of small businesses along the street could potentially go bankrupt

- Chaos, when four lanes turn into two at each end of the street

The local residents need to register their disapproval by emailing Alan Olsen on alan.olsen@spre.com.au or phoning 0458 088 200. If this proceeds then this council will be known as the one that destroyed our beautiful town centre but it will be too late.

Re Station Street upgrade gets the green light. I have nothing to do with Highlands Matters and I read every document released by council to come to the conclusion that the Station Street upgrade should not go ahead in its current form.

To say that objectors have suddenly come out in opposition to the upgrade is ridiculous as it wasn't possible to oppose anything until council released actual plans. (The current plan is very different to what was first proposed 20 years ago).

Councillor Markwart's comments demonstrate he is already out of touch with the people he claims to serve. Council's own Heritage Committee does not want a road re-alignment nor any tree removal to go ahead and for the current entrance to Bowral to remain unchanged.

It's very interesting that in the last year council has tried to affect the impact of heritage issues within Wingecarribee by reducing the number of times the Heritage Committee meets in a year and also Development Applications with possible heritage impacts have not been referred on to the committee. Council documents state that trees will indeed be removed if they are deemed to be in 'poor' health or pose a safety risk. It will be interesting to see how many trees fall into that category.