He stated that the original traffic figures given to council by the RTA, on which the road was built, were incorrect.

Our association would like to point out that council contracted R.W. Corkery & Co Pty. Ltd. who sub-contracted out the traffic count to Northern Transport Planning and Engineering Pty. Ltd. of Newcastle.

In that report, on page five, the firm stated that the “Northern Distributor Road will carry up to 8,600 vehicles per day in the year 2019”.

Further, on the same page, as part of the Executive Summary, the report asserts “traffic counts on local roads supplied by Orange City Council”.

A letter from the RTA, from that same period, informs council “a thorough traffic analysis should be done to determine the ultimate traffic volumes at completion of the route … not some intermediate volume”.

Plus “ … pavement designs should be designed to the ultimate volumes and not some interim stage volume”.

While a recent Central Western Daily editorial called for a process of moving forward, it must be acknowledged that council’s rush-through attitude landed it in this mire.

Had the council meeting been recorded, as previously recommended by us, accuracy of comments made would have been ensured and there would not have been any perceived misunderstanding.

Yours sincerely,

AS A ratepayer and resident of Cabonne I am extremely disappointed that the proposed merger between Blayney, Cabonne and Orange will not go ahead.

Since relocating to Molong – my original home town – in 2014, I have become very disenchanted with Cabonne Council, which I have found to be inefficient and obviously unable to look after its assets.

It is also unable to care for all its small villages: Cumnock and Yeoval still have no potable water supply. They are supplied with unfiltered river water stored in emu nests, so residents have to supply their own rainwater tanks, as well as paying Cabonne for unfiltered water.

After arriving back in Molong I became aware of the unfair administrative practices of Cabonne so I set about correcting these, by many letters and emails to council and the Minster for Local Government.

Eventually the billing charges and requirements for payment were corrected and made much fairer.

With the huge legal expenses of Cabonne’s appeals against the proposed amalgamation, I suspect our rates will rise substantially to cover those expenses.

THE Orange Health Service currently has a number of private rooms on the northern side of the hospital that are used for end-of-life patients.

Last week there were a number of people provided with that service. The rooms overlook the golf course and have their own shower. These have been used since the hospital opened for patients in need of end-of-life care.