The Clifton Courier Circulates in the Clifton, Allora, Nobby, Greenmount, Felton, Leyburn, Pilton, Victoria Hill, Cambooya and Wyreema areas.
Vol. 120 $1.40
Wednesday, August 5, 2020
$1.40 Your Local News
Chamber questions water options
Clifton and Districts Chamber of Commerce and Industry has expressed concern over the ongoing process being used by Toowoomba Regional Council (TRC) to provide a water supply for the town of Clifton. The Chamber is also concerned at plans to invest millions of dollars to build a pipeline to supply the town with bulk
water from the Toowoomba supply system. Currently, TRC is paying contractors to cart water into the town from the Toowoomba supply. The process involves about eleven truck loads of
water per day. It has been costing in the vicinity of $92,000 a month since water carting began toward the end of last year. Initially, the need to import water came about because drought conditions
had placed a strain on the local water bores but it was also found that the quality of water from the bores had been compromised. In November, Council described the transport
of water as a temporary measure to ensure that residents had a safe and secure water supply. However, when speaking in support of the TRC budget for 2020-21, Water and Waste Committee Chair, Cr Rebecca Vonhoff said Council will continue to truck water into Clifton until the town is connected to the proposed Southern Trunk Pipeline. TRC envisages that this pipeline will help provide a water security solution for the towns of Clifton, Nobby, Greenmount and Cambooya. While the Council is planning a study for its Southern Trunk Pipeline, it also wants to find out more about the State Government proposal for a major pipeline between Toowoomba and Warwick. Council has said it will “continue energetic and persistent discussions with both the Southern Downs Regional Council and the State Government to determine the further need and feasibility of a pipeline to connect our two regions”. In its 2020-21 budget,
Clifton and Districts Chamber of Commerce and Industry is concerned at the amount of money being poured into transporting water to Clifton.
Is this the beginning of the end?
King Street, Clifton
Customers of the National Australia Bank (NAB) in the Clifton district are not happy with plans by the Bank to cut hours of service at the local branch.
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TRC has earmarked $2 million for the Clifton Water Supply project. It says this project will identify appropriate water treatment systems to provide high quality, reliable and robust water supply to southern townships in the Region. It says this project is likely to be completed in parallel with the Southern Trunk Pipeline. At the July meeting of the Clifton Chamber of Commerce on Thursday night, members expressed concern at what some saw as the waste of money. It was suggested that TRC would be better off investigating the sinking of a bore or bores into deeper water aquifers in the local area. The meeting decided that president Amanda Beatson should seek a discussion with Cr Vonhoff in order to establish the facts relating to the Clifton water supply. At present the town of Clifton remains on high level water restrictions, which permit 150 litres of water per person, per day.
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Local staff have been advising customers that new hours will be introduced from Monday 17th August. From that date, the Clifton branch will be open for four hours a day Monday to Friday, from 9.30am to 12.30pm. In a statement issued by NAB, the bank says it is adapting the way it does banking in small regional branches, with a new model that will see hundreds of jobs maintained and a more consistent banking experience for customers.
Under the new model NAB will adjust opening hours across 114 smaller regional branches, with bankers splitting their time between over the counter service and digital or phone banking support, as more customers move online. NAB said more than 90 per cent of its customer interactions are now taking place online or by phone, and more than half of its customers log onto NAB banking via the app or online each month. It said over-the-counter
transactions are declining steadily and have reduced by a quarter in the past year. NAB said it will provide its bankers at branches such as Clifton with the training and tools required to support customers across phone and online chat and support them through the changes. NAB Group Executive Personal Banking Rachel Slade said on average a quarter of transactions in regional branches take place between 9.30 and 10.30am. Some retailers in Clifton
have told The Clifton Courier that they are concerned about the new arrangement as they will be forced to retain cash for longer periods than usual. The general reaction from a number of local customers has been an anticipation that this is a step toward total closure of the branch. 22 At Allora, the NAB closed its branch in 2018 and within a short time many locals had transferred their accounts to the Allora branch of the Warwick Credit Union. Credit Union reaction, page 5
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