Showing posts with label Clarence River. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Clarence River. Show all posts

Sunday 14 May 2023

Coffs Harbour City Local Government Area has long had the reputation of being a bad neighbour to the Clarence Valley - this month it proves it once again

 

It doesn’t take long when discussing life on the ground during low rain periods along the Clarence River for the conversation to turn to Coffs Harbour City’s historical rapacious attitude when it comes to accessing Clarence River catchment water.


In 2023 we may be muttering about Coffs Harbour 'greed' again as Winter approaches and the Bureau of Meteorology May 2023 ENSO Outlook remains at El Niño WATCHBraylesford and Newbold in the Clarence Valley are already listed as "Drought Affected" parishes on NSW Dept. of Primary Industries' Combined Drought Indicator mapping. 


Now it seems Coffs Harbour wishes to also gain a foothold within Clarence Valley landfill sites - as yet another lazy option to its long-term problems.


Coffs Harbour City 'red bin' solid garbage
IMAGE: ABC News, 10 May 2021












It appears that Coffs Harbour City Council sitting on a local landfill problem for at least two decades, has run through the goodwill of Nambucca, Bellingen & Tamworth and, finding the current landfill charges in south-east Queensland no longer to its liking, has decided that the Clarence Valley is the next best place to dump its unprocessed garbage.


At the Clarence Valley Council Ordinary Monthly Meeting on 18 April 2023 councillors unanimously vote to defer a decision until the outcome of the meetings proposed by Bellingen Shire Council for a regional waste solution are known.


However, Coffs Harbour continues with its approaches via the media.



The National Tribune, 11 May 2023:


City of Coffs Harbour is to ask the neighbouring councils of Clarence Valley and Nambucca Valley to allow access to their landfill sites for the City’s red bin waste for the next 4 years.


The City has processed the yellow and green bin waste for Bellingen and Nambucca Shires since 2007 and will continue to do so until the end of the current waste contract in 2027.


Our neighbouring local government areas all have landfill sites that can accommodate residual red bin waste for decades to come,” said Andrew Beswick, the City’s Director Sustainable Infrastructure.


In the meantime, our own waste facility is near capacity and we are having red bin waste trucked 3 times per day, 6 days per week to Queensland.


The City would therefore welcome neighbourly assistance with accepting up to 15,000 tonnes each of the City’s residual red bin waste for the 4-year period ending June 2027. The City is offering payment for this service.


We’re all interested in discussions over a regional plan for waste management after 2027, but the City’s immediate issue is the disposal of its red bin residual waste for the next 4 years.” …...


Monday 24 April 2023

In 2023 is Clarence Valley Council preparing to walk away from a drowning town?


Aerial view of a section of Yamba township precinct during flooding in 2022. IMAGE: Clarence Valley Independent





On Tuesday, 18 March 2023 Clarence Valley Council held its Ordinary Monthly Meeting.


Officially present at that meeting according to the Minutes were:


Cr Greg Clancy [Deputy Mayor], Cr Bill Day, Cr Peter Johnstone, Cr Debrah Novak, Cr Steve Pickering, Cr Jeff Smith, Cr Ian Tiley [Mayor], Cr Karen Toms and Cr Allison Whaites, General Manager (Laura Black), Director – Corporate & Community (Alex Moar), Director – Environment & Planning (Adam Cameron), Director – Works & Civil (Jamie Fleeting) and Minutes Secretary (Lee Boon).


The fourth item of business for Council In The Chamber that day was the following Notice of Motion:


Item 06.23.004 Rezoning Lands on West Yamba Floodplain


Note: Crs Tiley and Johnstone left the Chamber ahead of this motion at 2:08pm, having asserted a non-pecuniary conflict of interest existed in relation to Item 06.23.004. Both noting sitting members on Northern Joint Regional Planning Panel. Under s6.1 of the Code of Meeting Practice, the Deputy Chair became the chair in the Mayor’s absence.


MOTION

Clancy/Smith


That Council:

1. note the legal advice tabled at the February Ordinary Council Meeting that compensation would not be

payable in the event that the Department of Planning and Environment, on the recommendation of

Council, was to approve a rezoning of lands in the West Yamba Urban Release Area (WYURA) from

residential R1 to C2 or a mix of C2 and RU2 depending on the results of the planning study;

2. prepare a planning proposal for submission to the Department of Planning and Environment requesting

that the vacant land, which do not have development approvals for subdivision, in the West Yamba

Urban Release Area (WYURA) be rezoned from Residential (R1) to Conservation (C2) zoning or a mix

of Conservation (C2) and Rural (RU2) based on the impacts of further development on the environment

and the risk to human life and property from future flooding.

Voting recorded as follows

For: Clancy, Smith

Against: Day, Novak, Pickering, Toms, Whaites

The Motion was put and declared LOST

[my yellow highlighting]


To say that the writer of this post is disappointed beyond measure at this outcome is an understatement.


Those names listed as voting down the re-zoning motion, Bill Day, Debrah Novak, Steve Pickering, Karen Toms and Allison Waites, should be noted for future reference by Yamba residents & ratepayers when - as landfill proceeds apace -  the next inevitable major Lower Clarence River flood arrives.


An alternate Motion in Item 06.23.004 was put up by Cr. Day & seconded by Cr. Smith and lost. That particular risible motion all but issued an invitation to the NSW Nationals to turn any rezoning of the West Yamba Urban Release Area into both a regional and state brawl along partisan political lines in which property developers would have eagerly participated. It was voted down by Crs. Clancy, Novak, Toms, Whaites.


BACKGROUND


SUMMARY

Approved development of the Yamba floodplain under the provisions of the West Yamba Urban Release Area (WYURA) planning approval has resulted in large amounts of fill being transported to the site, particularly along Gardeners Road, Yamba Road and Carrs Drive. The constant truck movements (1 every 10 minutes), has caused great consternation among a number of Yamba residents. The large amount of fill would appear to be exacerbating localized flooding around the Carrs Drive roundabout and the area surrounding it. There is also concern that the large amount of fill is affecting, and will increasing affect, the drainage of the area, adversely affecting low lying residences and the environment.


PROPOSED MOTION

That Council:

1. note the legal advice tabled at the February Ordinary Council Meeting that compensation would not be payable in the event that the Department of Planning and Environment, on the recommendation of Council, was to approve a rezoning of lands in the West Yamba Urban Release Area (WYURA) from residential R1 to C2 or a mix of C2 and RU2 depending on the results of the planning study;

2. prepare a planning proposal for submission to the Department of Planning and Environment requesting that the vacant land, which do not have development approvals for subdivision, in the West Yamba Urban Release Area (WYURA) be rezoned from Residential (R1) to Conservation (C2) zoning or a mix of Conservation (C2) and Rural (RU2) based on the impacts of further development on the environment and the risk to human life and property from future flooding.


The eighth item of business at that 18 April ordinary council meeting was a development application for a 6 lot subdivision of an existing parcel of land in West Yamba Urban Release Area, lodged on behalf of a commercial fisher-cum-property developer. 


It was refused as per COUNCIL RESOLUTION - 07.23.050

Clancy/Johnstone

That council refuse Development Application SUB2021/0045 for the following reasons covered by

Section 4.15 of the Environmental, Planning and Assessment Act 1979:

a) The land being a wetland (Swamp Forest of Swamp Oak) making it unsuitable for the proposed development;

b) The nine submissions raised major concerns about the potential for flooding, impacts of stormwater runoff and clearing of natural vegetation.

c) The likely impacts of the development on the natural environment;

d) Impact on areas of C2 zoning for some infrastructure.

Voting recorded as follows

For: Clancy, Day, Johnstone, Pickering, Smith, Tiley

Against: Novak, Toms, Whaites


DISCLAIMER: The author of this post is a Yamba resident living alone in a single storey dwelling in a street adjoining a 20 year-old 6.65ha landfill comprising est. 90,000 cubic metres of river dredge & soil. The street is regularly cut off by riverine floodwater, or a combination of floodwater and storm water, preventing access to the town's nominal evacuation centre. The author has no independent means of leaving the town if residents are advised to do so ahead of a large flood front. In 2022 a small number of houses within this short street experienced flooding.


Wednesday 22 March 2023

On Saturday 25 March 2023 are you voting for the Clarence River system and the towns, villages and businesses which depend on its waters? Here are some of the community groups & candidates who think you should

 




Nymboida River, one of the twenty-four tributaries of the Clarence River and the principal source of drinking water for most residents in Clarence Valley and Coffs Harbour City local government areas. IMAGE: Arden E, YouTube 2015



The Clarence Valley’s rich biodiverse landscapes have nurtured and supported generations beyond count and down the years communities as well as the grass roots organisations they support across the Clarence River Catchment have worked hard to protect that which gives them life and livelihoods.


Because in places such as the Clarence Valley with its variable river systems; the aesthetic, environmental, social, cultural and economic values of its communities are intertwined. Healthy rivers, clear running creeks, intact temperate & subtropical close & open forests along with ancient remnants of the Gondwanaland forests, arable soils found in smaller valleys and the larger floodplain, as well as a long coastal zone providing tourism opportunities, all combine to provide a population of est. 54,180 men, women and children living in the catchment area with a solid local economy which keeps the local government area vibrant and its over 4,000 businesses productive. Businesses whose products and services make up est. 17 per cent of the wider Northern Rivers regional economy. [Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021, idcommunity 2021]


Make no mistake. The Clarence Valley relies on the fact that its air is fresh, free-flowing waters clean, main primary industries sustainable and its landscapes pleasing to the eye of tourists. For without those four things the Clarence Valley regional economy would not be worth anything like the over $2 billion it is consistently valued at despite the ongoing pressures of war in Ukraine and global pandemic [National Institute of Economic and Industry Research 2021].


It is also not just Clarence Valley residents that rely on good stewardship being applied to land and waters within the Clarence catchment area. An est. 78,738 people and 6,174 businesses in Coffs Harbour City local government area rely on the urban water infrastructure within Clarence Valley local government area to supply them with town water.


However, constantly growing population pressure and the commercial interests of often large-scale and/or state-sponsored industries (particularly construction, mining & forestry) has seen Clarence catchment landscapes being altered in ways that are becoming destructive.


Forestry now covers 20 per cent of Clarence River Catchment land and by 2022 there were a total of 18 existing mineral and gold mining leases, along with more than 41 mining exploration leases, in the catchment area. [NSW Government, Industry NSW, 2022] It should be noted that mining leases are on the traditional lands of three First Nations peoples.


Under threat are the streams, creeks and rivers which feed the longest coastal river on the Australian east coast, the Clarence River. Also under threat are the remaining tracts of native forest, as well as the tree cover on the Clarence Catchment’s steep hills which help anchor rock and soil to the hillsides and prevent it sliding down and choking the waterways that weave their way among them.


Since the 1990s there have been a number of government contracted reports concerning the Clarence Basin and its waterways. All have highlighted concerns still held today and largely unaddressed – the risks that mining activity, large scale forestry, soil erosion and water turbidity pose to the environment and waterways of the Clarence Basin.


Right now in March 2023 Clarence electorate residents have the opportunity to make their voices heard when they cast their votes this coming Saturday at the NSW State Election.


On Friday morning 17 March 2023 the Clarence Catchment Alliance (CCA) a non-partisan, not-for-profit, community volunteer group established in 2018 as a response to increased mining exploration activity held a press conference close to Whiting Beach, Yamba.


Clarence Catchment Alliance had invited members of the media, sitting MPs, candidates standing at next week’s state election, representatives from other community & business groups, as well as members of the public as observers, to this event.


The purpose of the press conference was to draw attention to the growing alarm about mineral extraction projects within the Clarence River catchment and any expansion of this activity across its 24 sub-catchments.


The event began with a Welcome to Country by Yaegl emerging elder Diane Randall, the press conference taking place on traditional Yaegl lands.


It was followed by an introduction from Shae Fleming one of the CCA organisers and then went onto comments by various speakers from other groups including the Clarence Environment Centre and the Yamba District Chamber of Commerce. Brief presentations were made by candidates standing in the Clarence electorate as well as candidates standing in Coffs Harbour and Lismore electorates. There was a general consensus that the waters of the Clarence River catchment area needed to be protected.


Unfortunately the Nationals candidate for Clarence, Richie Williamson, did not attend. However, given the strong pro-mining, pro-barely regulated land clearing, pro-native timber harvesting and pro-state and private forestry policies and practices of the Nationals as partner in successive NSW Coalition governments, that is hardly surprising.


What was surprising was the rider added by the Labor candidate for Clarence to his general support of protecting the Clarence catchment area. Leon Ankersmit stated that the Labor Party would not allow him to sign the CCA pledge of support as the party was in favour of mining in Northern New South Wales.


The following is a brief summary of concerns articulated by some of those that spoke at the press conference, in no particular order.


JOHN EDWARDS (Clarence Environment Centre): It’s not coal or iron that worries me – it’s heavy metal mining. Ore get trucked from mine sites but processing minerals begins at the mine. The evaporation ponds produce a toxic sludge which permanently contaminates the soil and remediation is merely covering that soil with more soil. Leaving a time bomb behind when the mining company leaves. (Signed the CCA pledge)


SUE HIGGINSON (Greens MLA): The community here worked hard to shut down the Timbarra Gold Mine after it leaked cyanide into the Clarence River. However mining leases are still being granted in river catchments. Local seafood, dairy, sugar cane, livestock, crops, and tourism, and the industries that serve them, need clean water. (Signed the CCA pledge)


SHAE FLEMING (Clarence Coastal Alliance): We already have healthy water based industries here. They need protecting. (Signed the CCA pledge)


JAMES ALLAN (current President, Yamba Chamber of Commerce): Degradation of our waterways leads to degradation of our businesses. I support No Mines in the Clarence catchment. There are few jobs in mining. Re-opening the Drake mine would only create fifty jobs. (Signed the CCA pledge)


BRETT DUROUX (Indigenous Australia Party candidate for Clarence): I grew up in Cangai, raised in the old ways. The bush is a place of beauty and healing for so many people. Miners needs are not as important as our needs. My response to proposals to mine in the Clarence Valley is “NEVER!” (Signed the CCA pledge)


NICKI LEVI (Independent candidate for Clarence): Water is sacred, water is precious, water is life. Our priorities should be to protect the air in the Richmond Valley and water in the Clarence Valley. (Signed the CCA pledge)


DEBRA NOVAK (Independent candidate for Clarence & current Clarence Valley councillor): If elected I pledge to lobby hard for a moratorium on mineral mining just as we successfully did with coal seam gas mining. Nothing is more important than protecting the water. (Signed the CCA pledge)


GREG CLANCY (Greens candidate for Clarence & current Clarence Valley Council Deputy-Mayor): I have been protesting against threats to the rivers for a long time. Mining in this wonderful environment is “not on”. Parts of the Mann River are already dead zones because of previous mining ventures. (Signed the CCA pledge)


LEON ANKERSMIT (Labor candidate for Clarence): I’m proud of the sustainable industries that rely on a healthy river like prawning and fishing. Our land is precious and its such an important job to protect our river. (Refused to sign CCA pledge)


MARK RAYNOR (Legalise Cannabis Party candidate for Clarence): We need to find new industries and new crops not start new mines. (Signed the CCA pledge)


TIM NOTT (Greens candidate for Coffs Harbour): Mining is being done the wrong way - mining near waterways produces industrial level pollution. (Signed the CCA pledge)


ALISON WATERS (Animal Justice Party candidate for NSW Upper House representing Northern NSW): They are our waterways and our catchments. We need to protect them. (Signed the CCA pledge)


VANESSA ROSAYRO (Animal Justice Party candidate for Lismore): Mining just doesn’t affect our lives. It affects marine and plant life and the lives of local animals. (Signed the CCA pledge)



Background




Saturday 11 March 2023

Image of the Week

 

Fishing boat returning to home port
Clarence River entrance, 6:19am Thursday 9 March 2023.

Click on image to enlarge


Friday 23 December 2022

Is Clarence Valley Council finally beginning to grapple with the need to limit development on the Clarence River floodplain?

 


Clarence Valley Mayor Ian Tiley         Deputy Mayor Greg Clancy


Clarence Valley Independent, 20 December 2022:


Clarence Valley Council (CVC) will seek legal opinion to see if compensation will be liable if vacant land that doesn’t have development application approval at West Yamba is rezoned by the NSW Planning Minister – a move that would limit further development.


Deputy Mayor Greg Clancy put forward the motion at the December 13 CVC meeting concerning land in the West Yamba Urban Release Area WYURA, which is predicted to increase the population of Yamba by 2000 people when development is complete.


Cr Clancy said planning approvals in Wyura requiring large amount of fill would appear to be exacerbating localised flooding around the Carrs Drive roundabout and the area surrounding it.


Following the impact of the 2022 floods, which saw Yamba cut off for several days, there is also concern that the large amount of fill is affecting, and will increasingly affect the drainage of the area, adversely affecting low lying residences and the environment.


Cr Karen Toms asked Cr Clancy whether he knew that the General Manager had already sought legal advice before he put the motion forward.


I was aware that the Mayor had asked the General Manager to seek legal advice, I wasn’t aware that it had actually been done,” he said.


Cr Clancy said with all the issues going on in the Yamba area, council was now in a position to understand what we can do or can’t do in terms of development on the floodplain.


We’ve had the Prime Minister and we’ve had the Premier both stating that there should be no more development on the floodplain, he said.


However, to date we haven’t received any official notice that there’s legislation being prepared, or passed, or whatever, to do that.


In the interim we need to determine councils’ position in relation to development on the floodplain and West Yamba is our largest area where we have potential development on the floodplain.


All this motion is doing is seeing whether council or the ratepayers would be liable if we go down the path of applying for a rezoning of land which has been zoned under the Wyura as residential, back to rural, and or a mixture maybe of rural and conservation, because there’s some important conservation areas in that area.


Once we get the legal opinion, council would be in a much better position to consider what action we want to take.


If we put a rezoning application in, we would need to know if the council and the ratepayers would be liable to any compensation.”


Mayor Ian Tiley said he and General Manager, Laura Black had discussed the matter a number of times and council was awaiting legal advice on rezoning.


Cr Steve Pickering said he would be supporting the motion as the community wanted to see action not just in Yamba, but on the floodplain generally.


This is a question that has been asked many times of me and I think it’s prudent for us as a council to actually seek legal advice,” he said.


Cr Karen Toms said she would not be supporting the motion as it was ‘a what if question’.


To me it’s a speculation in itself because we’re asking a lawyer to say well if the government decides to come in and change the zoning of privately owned land will we need to pay compensation,” she said.


I would rather see this put on hold until we actually get the information back.”


Cr Bill Day said he believed the motion endorsed the actions of the Mayor and the General Manager to seek legal advice on rezoning land at West Yamba.


In the motion put forward by Cr Greg Clancy and seconded by Cr Jeff Smith council resolved to seek a legal opinion as to:

1. Whether compensation becomes liable when and if the NSW Planning Minister was to rezone vacant lands that have not had DA approval for development on the Yamba floodplain (WYURA ) from R1 General Residential to RU2 Rural landscape and C2 Environmental Conservation zonings at Council’s request, and

2. Whether compensation becomes liable if land previously approved for the importation of fill was to be similarly rezoned;

3. Whether there are any other legal implications of such an action.


The motion was carried 7-2 and supported by all councillors except Cr Karen Toms and Cr Allison Whaites.


Wednesday 21 September 2022

"Don't Drown Our Town" banners appearing on Yamba streets as the town waits to see how long and strong this third La Niña will be


Stop The Fill banner in front of retaining wall holding back landfill on a subdivision site in Carrs Drive, Yamba....


IMAGE: NBN News, 18 September 2022



Examples of STOP THE FILL: Don't Down Our Town corflutes out the front of homes on Yamba Rd, The Halyard & Golding Street....





Photographs supplied.