Albury councillors, community members debate Eastern Hill master plan

Before the meeting kicked off, when community members were invited to address the council, Wiradjuri woman Ruth Davys said a lack of consultation with the Aboriginal community throughout the planning process "should be noted when council discusses the plan".

"Instead of building mountain bikes and destroying the cultural significance of the hill, it would be wonderful to start a revegetation program that would enhance the area and offer a passive recreational environment for current users and future generations of users of the hill," she said.

"Mountain biking is more than adequately provided for elsewhere in Albury and Wodonga."

Albury Wodonga Mountain Bikers treasurer Brad Spinelli, however, had a different spin to the argument.

"We feel that the hill should be available to all users of the city," he said. "Whether you're a walker, a bird watcher, a mountain biker, a person with a disability going to see the lookout, or an Indigenous citizen.

"Bike trails are not really going to be visible from the walkers and will have very little impact."

Later, Councillor Stuart Baker spoke against the motion for a panel of community members to be established to contribute to master plan refinements and recommend proposed changes.

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"The draft Eastern Hill activation plan was biased towards a small subset of aspirational users and not representative of the wider community or the existing daily users of the reserve," he said.

"By the time the draft Eastern Hill activation plan was presented to council on August 8 last year, it had become obvious that there was serious community alarm at this plan. I do believe that one of the members nominated has a bias towards mountain biking."

Councillor Darren Cameron also blasted the consultation process of the plan.

"I'd like to rip open the wound a bit more and pour some salt in," he said. "The initial consultation on this was shocking. It wasn't up to standard and I was shocked and angry when I saw what it actually consisted of. I'm very often angry, but I'm seldom shocked.

"I look forward to receiving as much information from this committee as possible before future determinations are made."

The motion to establish an advisory panel was carried.

Another motion to consider expansion and investment into the city's CCTV network was also carried.

Councillor Alice Glachan did an about-face on her previous stance. "I'm happy to say that I was wrong originally and that the CCTV is very good," she said.

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