Calls to halt logging until fire threat eases

Council is calling for a moratorium on logging until the fire threat eases.

The motion is also calling on the State Government to provide appropriate financial and other support to impacted industries.

BELLINGEN Shire Council is calling on the NSW Government to halt logging in regions under bushfire threat.

Councillors voted on the matter at an extraordinary meeting last week.

Mayor Dominic King raised it as a mayoral minute calling for a halt to logging in bushfire impacted areas until the immediate threat subsides.

The motion also stated that the moratorium should continue until rainfall, of 160 to 200mm in the immediate term across the region, is received.

It is council’s understanding that this is the estimated required rainfall to manage the fire risk based on information from the Rural Fire Service (RFS).

RELATED:

Coffs growers feeling the pinch as drought drags on

United Nations keeping an eye on our burning forests

Water in Woolgoolga dam to be sold-off to farmers

Cr Knight has also requested the moratorium remain in place until qualified professionals have conducted an assessment of the impact of fires on koala habitat and endangered plant communities.

The motion is also calling on the State Government to provide appropriate financial and other support to affected industries in the region.

Deputy Mayor of Bellingen Shire Council Jennie Fenton with Mayor Dominic King.

When the motion was put to a vote Crs Dominic King, Steve Klipin, Jennie Fenton and Toni Wright-Turner were in support with Crs Garry Carter, Desmae Harrison and Steve Jenkins against.

Unanimous decision to move ahead with desalination plant

ALSO on the agenda at last week’s extraordinary meeting was a motion to move forward with a desalination plant as river levels continue to drop.

Councillors voted unanimously to approve expenditure for the installation of a reverse osmosis plant noting that: ‘council has received advice from the NSW Department of Planning Infrastructure and Environment that the State Government will be providing substantive funding towards the works.’

Cr King says the temporary desalination plant will most likely be hired at a cost of around $200,000 a month.

With significant rain not expected until possibly February, those costs will soon escalate.

“It could turn into a million dollars all up.”

RELATED:

Pesticides detected in water tanks

The reverse osmosis desalination plant will be located just up stream on the Bellinger River from the sewerage treatment plant approximately a kilometre east of town.

He says the region is moving into uncharted territory as the drought drags on.

“There’s still a reluctance from residents to accept how dire this situation is and this is going to be a very strong part of what we will be doing in the next few months.

“I live in the Upper Kalang and parts of the river have run dry there, and sections along the Bellingen River have also ceased to run above ground.”