Beecroft Being Abandoned?

The BCCT secretary received a thought provoking letter from a resident and Trust member.  Extracts include:
"My major concern since moving to Beecroft in 2003 is the slow decline in the character of the area."
"Hornsby Shire Council, despite being a bushland shire, seem only too willing to allow residents to chop down established trees and for developers to use every last inch of a block of land."
"People buy into the area, apply to council to cut down a significant number of trees on their property, and then sell up and move out of the area."
The writer mentions a couple of properties as examples.
Obviously owner/developers can make a lot of profit if allowed to clear-fell the property they bought with lovely trees on it, and one suspects many applicants are indeed only intending to stay in the cleared property long enough to sell it after building or improving their view by removing trees.  The Trust is doing its best to ban such exploitation, but the Shire must assist in this battle.