Hello,

In his latest video, Mayor Sam Coupland says he will seek assistance from Dept of Public works to implement the rail trail up to Ben Lomond.  He will also apply for the rail corridor lease, including stations.

This goes against the community sentiument in the ARC area including Ben Lomond, Glencoe and Guyra.  It would have been better if Mayor Copeland and the Armidale Council  sat down with us to discuss alternatives to removing the rail infrastructure to build a rail trail.  Many residents oppose such removal.  They want their train services restored.  While mayor Copeland cannot do this, his council could at least explore alternatives together with the dept of public works e.g. building rail trail on the side of existing rail line.  Such issues need to be resolved at the community and council level as the council is a body elected by the residents and rate payers.  If it does not listen to community voices, consequences can be not that pleasant.

We now have set up a crowd funding page through GoFundMe to raise funds necessary to obtain legal advice.  Link is given below:

link is https://www.gofundme.com/donate-to-protect-our-regional-railways

Siri