LOADS OF LETTERS
THE TWEED SHIRE
pages 8 and 9
Volume 1 #14 Thursday, November 27, 2008 Advertising and news enquiries: Phone: (02) 6672 2280 Fax: (02) 6672 4933 editor@tweedecho.com.au adcopy@tweedecho.com.au www.tweedecho.com.au
LOCAL & INDEPENDENT
Locals set to lap up new aquatic centre Tweed tops
the DA list Ken Sapwell
Mayor Joan van Lieshout walks the plank of the diving pool as she enjoyed one of the perks of office this week sampling the Tweed’s new Regional Aquatic Centre, which opens to the public tomorrow Friday (November 28), with free entry from 3pm. Photo Jeff ‘Nine Point Nine’ Dawson Madeleine Doherty
Grab your togs and towel and head to the Tweed’s brand spanking new Regional Aquatic Centre in Murwillumbah tomorrow at 3pm (Friday Nov 28) and make a splash. To celebrate the opening, admission to the facility will be free for the first weekend, including tomorrow afternoon and evening until 8pm. This will allow everyone the opportunity to explore the facility and discover the broader range of membership options now available. Visitors are asked to be patient, as there is a maximum number allowed in the facility for safety reasons. Staff may ask people to wait until others leave. The new $16-million complex is a state-ofthe-art facility featuring a year-round, indoor building with heated 25-metre lap pool incorporating diving pool, a learn-to-swim pool and
hydrotherapy pool. The hydrotherapy pool is the only public hydrotherapy pool in the region, and meets all the relevant standards for use for rehabilitation by the aged and those with disabilities. Outside, the 50-metre pool has been refurbished and upgraded to eight lanes. A new children’s leisure pool with interactive features should prove to be a real drawcard for families, while the existing water slide will be even more popular as it will now be free (admission fee still applicable). A creche is planned to give busy mums and dads an opportunity to participate in some of the fitness and other programs offered at the centre. Programs will include aqua aerobics, group swimming lessons for older adults, tethered swimming and gentle walking. There is also a new café – the Starting Block
Café – which will be accessible from inside and outside the facility. The Tweed Regional Aquatic Centre will be officially opened by the mayor, Cr Joan van Lieshout, at a ceremony tomorrow morning, before a crowd of invited guests. President of the Murwillumbah Sub-branch of the RSL, Derek Sims, will rededicate the 50metre pool to honour those from the Tweed district who have fallen in all conflicts since World War I. The hydrotherapy pool will be officially opened at a separate ceremony next Friday, December 5, by Richmond MP and Minister for Ageing, Justine Elliot, and Janette Glynn, president of the Rotary Club of Mt Warning AM (Murwillumbah). The hydrotherapy pool will be available for use by the public (subject to programmed classes) before the official opening.
Tweed Shire remains one of the state’s leading development hot-spots, attracting more developments than any other local government area in the NSW North Coast region, according to a report to the council. The council determined 1,340 development applications (DAs) worth a total of $285 million during 2007-08, compared with 799 DAs worth $143 million processed by its next busiest rival, Ballina Shire Council. The report, which comments on the results of the Department of Planning’s annual performance monitoring review, acknowledges that the average time determining development applications is 103 days compared to the NSW average of 74 days. But when compared with staffing levels, the Tweed performed well with 84 DAs per staff member compared to the state average of 69, the report by chief planner Vince Connell says. Mr Connell also noted that the council had a relatively low number of four legal appeals determined in the Land and Environment Court during the 12-month period, with all but one of the cases won by the council. He said one of the main reasons for delays in processing DAs was because more than half of them were lodged with inadequate details, requiring council staff to seek more information from the applicants. If the clock was stopped to allow for the time spent waiting for the additional details, the average time for processing DAs would be reduced from 103 to 60 days. He suggested that to overcome the problem applicants should be provided with a clearer check list before they submit their DAs and that staff should be a ‘lot stricter in refusing to accept deficient applications at the time of lodgement.’ Mr Connell said there were also a ‘unique combination of factors impacting on the Tweed over recent years’, including: t "O FYUFOTJWF SBOHF PG IJHIMZ TFOTJUJWF BOE complex development constraints in the shire. continued on page 2
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