Link new library to town centre

It is fantastic to read that a new library facility for Warragul may be possible thanks to the draft master plan for Civic Place (Gaz 19/1).

As a volunteer of the Community Advisory Committee of the West Gippsland Libraries I have heard over many years the challenges of the current library for the community and the opportunities a new library would bring to Warragul and surrounds.

The plan to place this new library still near the shopping district is very important to me, we know many people don't just travel to the library but include a trip with other duties like shopping, banking and appointments in town.

I have visited Bunjil Place library near Fountain Gate Shopping Centre many times following its opening in October 2017 and can see the real advantages to communities of linking libraries to other community facilities and spaces. So the plan to build a new Warragul Library co-located to arts and council customer service facilities as well as the open space of Civic Park makes a lot of sense.

I hope however funding and building a new library facility will not affect the other Baw Baw library sites and services.

Past councillors for the east ward for example have threatened investment in Warragul would mean an end to the essential mobile library service that mostly offers library access to communities in the east of Baw Baw Shire.

Hopefully this was just fear mongering against council spending and not a possible outcome if the equally important outcome of a new Warragul library is achieved.

I hope the wider community joins me in supporting our council considering a new library for Warragul, especially in a plan that keeps the library linked to the business district and allows the management of the library to continue the expansion and modernisation of what libraries are in communities - much like our neighbours in Latrobe Valley have seen with the development of the Moe Library.

David Lyons, Trafalgar

Complex subject

In the letter entitled “Read the facts” D.J. Auchterlonie was correct in stating that the oceans contain more carbon dioxide than the atmosphere.

Unfortunately the other assertions in this letter are not shared by the vast majority of scientists.

Climate change is a complex subject and as well as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and oceans, it also involves vegetation, land surface characteristics, and the size of the polar ice sheet.

However, if I can simplify the current scientific viewpoint. When carbon dioxide in the atmosphere rises, atmospheric temperature also rises.

That carbon dioxide causes the atmospheric warming can be shown in a simple school laboratory experiment with a few hundred dollars’ worth of electronics.

Warm water can dissolve less carbon dioxide than cold water (think about fizzy drinks going “flat” on warm days.)

Hence, when the water warms up, more carbon dioxide goes into the atmosphere, causing greater heating and so on – a classic example of positive feedback.

So this letter has "cause and effect" not quite right.

Hope this clarifies at least some aspects of this topic.

Peter Gribben, Drouin

More traffic disorder

Last week I attended the Baw Baw Shire Council brief on the Civic Park masterplan.

In isolation the Civic Park “plan” has merit, however in its current form it will simply add to the traffic burden in the vicinity.

BBSC and the contractors have designed the Civic Park concept with the view (espoused at the brief) to facilitate an exponential increase in attendees at a multifunction multi-facility precinct.

In essence, the site is going to be busy day and night.

At the brief I addressed the current and potential traffic issues and was politely told that my concerns were not relevant to the brief. The evidence suggests otherwise.

Additional traffic caused by the Civic Park proposal will ensure the precinct continues to exhibit traffic disorder.

Try getting a carpark on a busy evening in Smith St.

In 2017, the then mayor and CEO released a document showing there will be significant growth in Warragul and Drouin (and the shire) to 2035.

The COVID-19 effect is of “tree change” and already there has been an increased confidence in the real estate market adding to planned population growth.

There is and will be intense development in housing construction in Warragul North, South, East and West during the life of the Civic Park development.

Additionally, the mayor is on recent record as promoting an imminent solution for the old butter factory thereby adding acres of potential development in the Warragul CBD.

Clearly these developments and population increases will add to motor vehicle traffic density in and out of the Warragul CBD and the district.

After the Civic Park briefing, I contacted council and its representatives to gain a copy of the Strategic Traffic and Road plan for Warragul and Drouin.

I was referred to a manager and it transpires that no plan existed or exists or is being developed. Why?

The lack of a basic infrastructure plan puts the shire well behind the development timeline.

No plan, be it commercial, residential or cultural can have integrity unless they are underpinned by a strategic traffic plan.

I accept that state and prob ably federal government assistance and funding is required. That councilthe hasn’t developed a Strategic Traffic Management Plan and/or a design or a submission is a critical planning omission and organisational failure.

Council needs to direct internal resources to rectify this omission immediately and make their plan available for public comment.

Bill Westhead, Warragul

Depressing narrow view

It's a pity that John Hart (''Respecting the Debate'' 19/1) avoids the prime issue of my previous correspondence when calling for respect in debate in The Gazette.

Roger Marks has enjoyed a ''free run'' in The

Gazette for decades, despite a distinct lack of respect for those who disagree with him.

Lots of '' free speech'' there.

Unfortunately, the hallmark of Roger's countless missives is that of the Trump-like ''I believe it, so it must be the truth'' brigade, summarily dismissing the views of ''non believers''.

I fulfill the elements of the ''elderly white straight conservative male'' demographic, bar one, but the preponderance of this demographic in government and the media, including the ''letters'' page of The Gazette, reflects a depressingly narrow view of the world, and refusal to concede and/or empathise.

So, Mr Hart, from this demographic, of which you apparently are a member, come the views of the ''loony right'', only, too evident in recent weeks (Kelly, Christensen and Finn.)

They present an entrenched and intransigent ''moral'' front, scorn modern medical and scientific expertise, still believe Trump was “robbed'', and never concede.

Since this group appears to do most of its research on the internet, perhaps they should venture further and appreciate the irony of how our generation is viewed by others, in apportioning blame for the dire straits this planet finds itself in, and yes, Mr Hart, in our abject failure to pay attention and listen.

When Roger Marks gives his “non believers'' a whack, he deserves one back, to demonstrate not all are prepared to accept his humbug.

It may not be respectful, but I, for one, am not trying to “win people over'', and some people in this world are way past deserving respect.

John Duck, Trafalgar

Confine cats

Baw Baw Shire doesn’t care enough about the survival of the Southern Brown Bandicoot or other native wildlife.

If it really cared it would bar residents from owning domestic cats, unless those cats are physically confined to their owner’s properties.

My experience with cat owners has been that the majority cannot be relied upon to confine their animals to their own properties.

A Bullen, Tetoora Rd