IN THE first Tamworth Regional Council meeting of the year, councillors responded to community backlash against the giant Big Mac erected near a war memorial, by voting in favour of a new policy.
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The new rules will aim to ensure the incident is not repeated near other spaces that have significant community sentiment attached to their history or purpose.
Cr Glen Inglis said his personal view was the Big Mac should never have been erected.
“It happened, it's not the end of the world, we're a good council and we learn from our mistakes,” Cr Inglis said.
Cr Wilson had no idea about the monument and was startled to see the picture in The Leader.
“All councillors would be aware it’s not always the big things that cause anxiety in the community, it's often the smaller things like this,” Cr Wilson said.
“I was surprised there isn’t already some mechanism in place to wave a flag, indicate it may be a potential problem and notify councillors.”
Tamworth Heart Foundation’s Penny Milson had concerns about the “clever marketing ploy” being placed in an area often used by children.
“From a public heath point of view, putting it close to a park and a children's playground is incompatible with the health of the community,” Ms Milson said.
Deputy mayor Helen Tickle agreed with Ms Milson, and said in formulating the policy, council had to consider the public health and well being of the community.
The giant burger was due to stay in the park for two weeks, but it was taken down about a week early.
“I congratulate the council on the decision to take it down ahead of time based on the voice of community,” Cr Charles Impy said.