14-storey Lennox ski jump a blight – Echonetdaily

Charlie Hewitt,Lennox Head.

Touting economic benefits as the justification for a 14-storey-high ski jump on the dunes at Lennox Head is nonsensical and offensive. Spend $10m on a small handful of elite athletes in an obscure sport who might occasionally buy food and accommodation for a few months of the year.

In return our community suffers a huge permanent eyesore that despoils natural assets that attract thousands of paying tourists all year; intensifies development in the catchment of a fragile coastal lake; and is severely exposed to coastal erosion hazard, corrosive salt air, highly brackish groundwater, and persistent strong coastal winds.

Furthermore, it is contemptuous to spout economic platitudes without presenting figures. On that note, it might be easier to spend the $10m on raising the Lismore flood levee or local employment training no need to massage those numbers to demonstrate economic benefit.

This ski jump was fully approved and funded in Queensland in 2011. If the numbers are so rosy, why did Campbell Newman, that proud bastion of economic rationalism, scrap it immediately on coming to power?

NSW Sport is trying to foist Queenslands rejects on our community. Despite owning this wonderful facility on a prime piece of coastal land for years, NSW Sport are so inept that they still record unacceptable losses there. So they lunged at this abandoned project in a desperate and unimaginative attempt to justify their continued management of the site.

Yes, so inept they recently had to back-pedal desperately when photomontages of this monstrosity were met with dismay and derision. Of course the images were checked and approved for release, but NSW Sport lied about misinformation being spread and doctored the images for re-release it now looks monstrous from far away and they look deceitful close up.

Finally, expect but dont fall for a blackmail attempt from NSW Sport like If you block this, well just sell the land to developers. There are countless ways this prime piece of coastal land could be used, with positive economic and social returns, in the hands of competent creative managers.

Maintain the rage, Lennox.

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14-storey Lennox ski jump a blight - Echonetdaily