Oslek (Kelso backwards) was named by Robert Gordon Edgell when it was purchased in 1906 and was the

original Edgell Country Garden which grew asparagus.

But its owners Wendy and George Smith hold grave fears that the proposed bypass will cut right through their and.

Mrs Smith has written a letter to council’s strategic planning manager Janet Bingham, objecting the Southern Link Road.

“You, the council, say that this study is only a suggestion but if that suggestion goes straight through, it will 100

per cent destroy the best agricultural land with

the highest success in

productivity in the whole of the Bathurst district,” Mrs Smith wrote.

“We purchased Oslek in 1981 and grow cauliflowers, cabbage and corn, the latter two being under contract with and for Simplot nee Edgells.

“The cabbage we grow at Oslek is under contract which Bathurst should also be proud of as it is 50 per cent of all the cabbage produced for the famous Chiko Roll with the other 50 per cent being grown in Victoria.

“Destroying the largest Australian supplier for this huge company [Simplot] is ludicrous

to say the least, and the ripple in the pool effect would be like Bathurst Regional Council suggesting their link road go

straight through Coles and Woolworths as the unemployment would be less detrimental to the locals.”

“In respect to being told that any link road to be built in the future probably wouldn’t go ahead for 10 or 20 years is little comfort for any land owner when the current suggested road goes through their property.

“What then for the future do we, as those land holders, have when our enormously valuable lands have a four lane highway through the middle of it?”