Signs, dogs and about 22 people took up roadside positions in Thurgoona Sunday afternoon to object to the destruction of trees in the name of development.
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Thurgoona Community Action organised the Save Our Trees protest along Thurgoona Drive near a recently cleared area.
“Just to register our disapproval, I mean we can’t undo what’s been done,” the group’s communications officer Sally Hendy said.
“We’ve gone through all the right channels to try and put in objections and everything else and we haven’t been listened to on this and other developments.”
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Albury mayor Kevin Mack said the council appreciated the views of Thurgoona Community Action.
“We are very cognisant of the importance of our environment out there,” he said.
“Progress is also about population, it’s about understanding the balance and we’re working really hard to make sure that we can get it as right as we possibly can.”
Mrs Hendy said her group did not oppose all projects in Thurgoona.
“We all live in houses, we all go to shops and all the rest of it, a lot of us drive cars, you need some development, but it can be done more in balance with nature instead of like this,” she said.
The protesters carried and erected signs to add to their presence, with even their accompanying pets displaying the message every dog needs a tree.
Thurgoona Community Action treasurer Chester Merrick said such action highlighted the issue for the wider community.
“It’s also good for the passing traffic to see that people are actually concerned about this,” he said.
“A lot of the time these things happen and nobody thinks anybody cares, but we actually do.”
Mrs Hendy said the action group evolved out of the Thurgoona Progress Association about three years ago.
“We’ve had so much feedback from people saying that they’re really angry about what they see happening around Thurgoona,” she said.
“Because they’ve moved out here to live a little bit more within nature rather than like in the cities where it’s house on house on house and buildings and concrete and roadways and that’s it.
“Whereas Thurgoona has had a more natural feel so we’d like to keep it more that way.”
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