Family-friendly area is not an entertainment zone

Letter to the editor of the Cessnock Advertiser 16 Aprl 2014

     Dear Editor,

     Like most objectors to what Garry Warnes called "not a rave" (The Advertiser, April 9), the area at risk from his not-a-rave is home to me.

     Sadly, two young families have told me that they are considering their options for leaving if this development goes ahead.

     With the inevitable repeated disruptions and incursions of hundreds (or the thousands to which the promoters explicitly aspire), the area would not be fit for raising children.

     If we believe that only a single event is planned, then that might seem a bit of an overreaction. On the available evidence however, the event in question is intended to be the first of many.

     The applicants have made it quite clear that, if the event is commercially successful, they intend repeating the exercise and expanding on it. The Statement of Environmental Effects, as exhibited, confirms that intent.

    There are many entertainment promoters, so we could easily end up with any number of promoters, each holding a "single event", many times per year at Cedars. If they see an opportunity for profit, can the proprietors of Cedars be expected to let it pass?

     Will council allow this family-friendly area to become an entertainment-industrial zone?

     David Boxall
     Mount Baker Road, Mount View.