The NSW government maintains there’s no need to legislate a ban on the bags despite the state being the biggest consumer of them.

But the supermarkets are still using rolls of lightweight plastic bags for fruit and vegetables and much of the food on sale is still wrapped in plastic.

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So it all just seems like a pointless exercise, especially since the thicker reusable bags are tougher to break down if dumped.

This is because they need to be exposed to heat and sunlight to break down and, unlike ordinary bags, they can’t be composted or recycled.

YOU can only wonder why the Orange City Council approved the Woolworths petrol station at the fiveways intersection.

Council bought the former empty premises there, rezoned the land and then sold it on to Woollies, acting as agents for the supermarket.

But it’s a miracle there hasn’t been a monumental crash in William Street with idiots still queuing in the street waiting to get into the petrol station.

MAP: Where is the fiveways intersection?

Cars making a left turn from Summer Street find their way blocked and one day they’re not going to be able to stop and that will be it.

What makes things more dangerous is the way drivers accelerate over the railway line and race up through the fiveways like there’s no tomorrow.

It’s probably the wildest section of road in Orange and certainly one where pedestrians take their life in their hands trying to cross from one side to the other.

SPEED cameras across NSW in 12 months have reaped more than $185 million and Woodward Street in Orange is a good earner collecting around $42,000.

So the private company running the mobile speed cameras must be doing so well they’ve just upgraded here to a shiny new Subaroo to continue to save lives in Woodward Street in front of Elephant Park.

MAP: Where is the speed camera located?

It’s the widest road in Orange in an area the Roads and Maritime Services believes is a ‘high-risk’ location but it’s obvious it’s a money-raising exercise and it would be better to put the thing in a location where it might save a life.

Maybe in Summer Street at night when the hoons race each other up and down?

ORANGE Rail Action Group is still campaigning to have better rail services to Orange including having the Bathurst Bullet stay overnight here to give us a faster early-morning daily trip to Sydney.

However, if the Bathurst-Orange growth centre hadn’t been axed by the Wran government, Orange now would have an inter-city rapid transit service between both centres via the proposed new city at Vittoria.

A branch would have left the existing line at Perthville and rejoin it near Spring Hill, bypassing all the present slow curves between Tarana and Newbridge.

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The present line would have terminated at the railway station and be ripped up all the way north for several kilometres to avoid cutting Orange in two.

A branch would from there would go west of Orange, rejoining the main line beyond Wentworth Park.

So it’s a pity all these improvements never eventuated with finance instead going to Albury-Wodonga.