Below is a list of dot points to help you draft your submission (email or letter) to Council expressing your concerns about selling Benjamin Parker Reserve.

• I am going to specifically talk about Benjamin Parker Reserve on the corner of Dover Rd and Lakeview Drive. Please protect our public green spaces from being lost to development.
• This is CURRENTLY a community park that should not be sold but council want to reclassify to an operational park it so they can sell it. That is outrageous and an insult to the community. It should always remain property of the community.
• Benjamin Parker was donated to the community for the community and should be kept that way.
• Parks and green space are so important, having liveable neighbourhoods with plenty of green open space are critical to public health and wellbeing.
• Protecting and expanding our green open spaces are critical to support a growing population.
• Council in trying to sell Benjamin Parker Reserve is greatly undervaluing their importance to animals’ habitats and the residents.
• Rather than losing our green spaces, Gosford Council should be assessing the evidence on their value and making informed decisions about keeping existing parks.
• Open space is critically important to the liveability of our suburbs. We do not want to become an area where every piece of land is taken up by buildings. It will downgrade our area if we lose our parks.
• Parks can improve mental health, looking at greenery is relaxing and peaceful. Greenery can reduce stress and depression. With the urban backyard shrinking in size, public green space is becoming more important. Council should be thinking about creating more green space not taking it away.
• We bought this property because of the sea view and the greenery. Every day I appreciate and value this view. I love the privacy and relaxation it provides as well. Our house will be devalued if we lose this reserve. Many residents have bought because of the park.
• We will have more people wanting to park in this area. We have no stopping zones in this area in Dover Rd and one off street parking strip for 2-3 cars that will go when you build units there. So where will visitors and residents with more than two cars in the family park then?
• Increased traffic will make it unsafe for children in the streets.
• It is a home and nesting place for many native birds. The lorikeets love eating the blossoms off the turpentine trees. It is also a home to possums.
• Some neighbours walk and exercise their dogs here. Where will they be able to do this if you sell it to developers?
• Please rethink this to ensure children and adults have green outdoor spaces to play in now.
• Keep and create green spaces for now and into the future.
• The sprinkling of parkland throughout the suburban areas provide the community with areas that attract birdlife and adding overall beauty to an area, which ultimately leads to a better quality of life and improved well being.
• Council needs to find other means to recoup losses made through poorly invested ratepayers funds. This land belongs to the residents. Council cannot sell something that does not belong to them.
• It is not about a park being fully used all the time by residents, it is about GREEN SPACE.

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