We have the best stretch of beaches in Australia - spoilt for choice when it comes to all sorts of activities or just chilling out. Any threat to this slice of heaven on Earth is vigorously challenged.

Unfortunately, when it comes to the escarpment, there does not appear to be the same level of concern.

Indeed, an insidious degradation is occurring on this generation's watch as residential development is allowed to encroach on our hills.

This is not to suggest that foothill suburbs and those that extend further towards the ridge are entirely inappropriate. Certainly, such places can be sustainable and are desirable communities in which to live.

However, there does appear to be a lack of a co-ordinated approach in the protection of the escarpment, illustrated recently with the sale of colliery land in Tarrawanna.

To allow an executive residence to be established in an area that could have been consolidated with surrounding parkland appears, at least on the surface, as a missed opportunity.

The last thing we would all want to see is for the majestic backdrop that Mother Nature has given us to become nothing more than a mass of well-perched, brightly lit private homes.