WE HAVE received the recent survey commissioned by the council in regards to the tarring of Point Plomer Rd. We believe you need to hear all sides of the story, not just those of the minority in Crescent Head.
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While we were not born and bred in Crescent Head, we have been coming here for over 40 years and driving this back road for just as long.
We have seen the change in the amount of people using this road. We are less then 50 metres from the road. Unlike other land owners on this road who are well back from the road, we see every day the drama that unfolds here. The residents of Point Plomer Rd who don’t want it tarred have no idea what is happening.
They may travel the road once every few days, or even once a day – we are here 24/7. We see and hear what happens on this road all day and all night. I’m sitting here on a Wednesday in the school holidays and the traffic started at 4.30am and has not stopped. But don’t say this is a 'school holiday thing'. This road has seen similar amounts of traffic on it all through winter.
The dust is horrendous. My visiting nieces cannot play in our front yard. My mum can’t even come and visit due to her asthma. My husband and I both have bad coughs and chest infections from sucking in dust all day and have both been on antibiotics since the school holidays started for Queensland. You can say stay in your house (which is totally unfair) but it comes through our closed windows and doors.
Yesterday our dog had to go to the vet and be treated for an eye infection due to the dust irritating his eyes. Our health is being affected every day. We recently had repairs done on our roof. The repairman were here the Thursday before the long weekend and the Tuesday after. They said the dust on the roof in that short amount of time was incredible and that we should not even consider drinking the water from our roof as it was like mud. This is not acceptable.
We are trying to grow our own fruit and vegetables but everything is covered in a thick dust and when you water your garden it turns to mud.
We have no laundry on the line the majority of the time because it gets covered in dust. All of our outdoor furniture is covered in dust. Our beds are covered in dust. All of our furniture, window sills, kitchen sink - everything is covered in dust.
It is no longer seasonal. You can no longer say it is only busy six months of the year. It has been busy all winter. Social media has made sure that this area is no longer 'a secret'.
There are so many near misses that no one reports. Just last week we nearly saw a four-way head-on. It was only that we were out the front and we could use hand signals to slow some cars down that there wasn’t a major disaster. There is so much dust we can’t see if it’s safe to exit our driveway.
We are landowners, we have no intention of building high rises. After speaking with other landowners, they too have no intention of building high rises. There are rules in place set by the State Government and council so this doesn’t happen.
We are entitled to live in a healthy environment – not one where we are literally covered in dust everyday and live with the fear that someone (maybe even us) will be fatally injured due to the crazy driving and overtaking tactics of those on this road.
To say it will make people drive faster – to be honest people couldn’t drive any faster down here. Just last night there was someone out the front of our house doing donuts and skids all over the dirt road. We get 4WD clubs here tearing up the road every day. There are no road rules here – we spoke to the police – people can drive as fast as they like (or ‘to conditions’).
Tarring the road will stop this. Police will come here and monitor the speed, the drink driving, the no seatbelts, the children driving cars.
It will not stop the tourists – they come here for the beaches, not the dirt road. They will keep coming regardless – the proof is in the sealing of the main road into Seal Rocks. The tourists still go there to see the beautiful beaches.
There is no wildlife here anymore – what animal could survive this dust? What tree could develop covered in dust?
If the council is to consider the opinions of the Crescent Head residents then perhaps consider every ratepayer in the Kempsey Shire – they are sick of paying so much money every time this road is graded. You are literally throwing it down the drain.
Yes, our cars get damaged – we expect that travelling on a dirt road – but we do not expect to be nearly killed every time we travel on the road.
Please consider this small strip of ratepayers who live here and deal with this mess every day!
Karen and John, Crescent Head
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