Jeanette Heffernan and partner Dale Bodkin (left) and Margaret Heffernan and Jamie Cole (right) with their kids Rylee, Georgie, Peter, Anthony and Benjamin outside their property along Old Cooma Road.
SOME residents along Old Cooma Road are furious with Queanbeyan City Council following tree lopping that's destroyed boundary fences and reduced the natural appeal of the region.
Council work crews are preparing the way for contracted repairs to the road to cater for the new township of Googong by lopping some trees along a stretch of road approximately five kilometres out of town.
The Heffernan family, whose land is bordered on one side by Old Cooma Road, have said the tree lopping is causing havoc as they try and keep their children and stock out of harm's way.
They're also concerned by the amount of native wildlife they've seen wandering aimlessly following the destruction of their habitat.
"I think it's disgusting what they're doing to the countryside here," Jeanette Heffernan said.
"We're seeing possums running around in the day time because they've been uprooted, native birds as well. And there's a range of other animals that live here like echidnas, black cockatoos, frogs, insects, birds. It's caused mayhem for them," she said.
Her sister Margaret Heffernan had a boundary fence destroyed in the lopping process three weeks ago, and said she's still waiting for Council to repair it.
"My main concern is that I've had to move stock out of that paddock, and I've recently bought some new lambs and I have nowhere to put them," she said.
"Plus we've got to make sure we keep our young kids off the road. Being on a farm they have no road sense whatsoever, and people scream along this road."
Council general manager Gary Chapman said the Heffernans were aware the work was coming to their area, and that all relevant environmental and planning approvals were in place prior to the lopping.
"The reason we're doing it now is actually for environmental reasons. There's no [bird or animal] nesting going on this time of year, so it has to be done now. If it had been done in spring or summer there would be a greater impact on bird life and so on," Mr Chapman said.
"All the work's along our road- we haven't entered any private property as far as I'm aware. We own the road reserve, and we own the land we're working on at the moment.
"So apart from these people raising the matter with you [the Queanbeyan Age] we've been through all the environmental processes, we've got all the state government approvals and the commonwealth government approvals, and they've know fully that the road's going up there. And it's now starting," he said.
Repairs to the road will begin after lopping work is complete, and are expected to take nine months. Mr Chapman said that stretch of Old Cooma Road had been a concern for some time.
"For such an unsafe section of road up there - there's been a lot of people killed up there over the years, so this is good work that needs to happen. But everything that has to be done has - and it now has to happen," he said.
However the Heffernans say they're concerned at the time it takes to get a response from Council on issues such as the damaged boundary fence and wildlife concerns.
"We all know that the road is going to be a good thing, but it's just the way we've been treated. They fob us off," Margaret Heffernan said.
"And these kids are the fourth generation of the family to grow up on this land. It's more than just dirt to us," she said.