Council rushing to demolish community centre

By TIM HOWARD

A Yamba residents’ group says there has been an unseemly haste to get permission for the demolition of the Treelands Drive Community Centre.

Clarence Valley Council, at its February 28 meeting, made a controversial decision to overturn an earlier resolution to keep and renovate the building, instead voting for an earlier.

The residents group, Yamba Community Action Network, was formed last year, largely by residents concerned the council was pushing ahead with the proposal paying scant regard to due process and running roughshod over the objections of the community.

The YambaCAN secretary Lynne Cairns said there was ample evidence over the history of the proposal that council staff and some councillors had pushed ahead with the project before the elected councillors had voted on it.

“Most recently the the council had submitted the DA to the Northern Region Planning Panel for consideration four days before the council had voted on whether it would change its mind from Option B back to Option A,” Mrs Cairns said.

“It just seems that the staff do whatever press ahead making decisions before council resolves one way or another.”

The development proposal for Option A has been to demolish the existing Treelands Drive Community Centre and build an upgrade facility including a new, bigger library.

Council has received an $11.1 million dollar Bushfre Local Economic Recovery grant to fund the project.

But in late 2022 council was forced to close the Grafton Olympic Pool and received information it could swap the BLER funding from Treelands Drive to fund construction of a new Grafton Aquatic Centre.

In December councillors voted to switch planning from Option A to Option B, which was to renovate the current building and upgrade the Yamba library.

But when the Department for Regional NSW informed the council it could not re-allocate the BLER funding, there were concern among councillors and staff the funding would be lost unless it were spent on Option A.

The about turn created controversy in the council, which needed to rescind the December motion.

Normally a rescission motion requires the signatures of three councillors and seven days notice before the meeting.

But in this instance staff proposed they rescind elements of the original decision.

Mayor Ian Tiley was so concerned about this process he asked general manager Laura Black to check with the Offce of Local Government.

Its advice was the process could be legitimate because the conditions that motivated the decision had changed.

Deputy mayor Greg Clancy did not agree, claiming the motion, moved by Cr Karen Toms, to approve the staff recommendation, was not lawful.

He moved a dissent motion against the ruling, which was beaten and after some spirited debate the motion was passed 6-3.

But Cr Clancy took it further and had his own discussions with the OLG.

He did not reveal the outcome of his research, but said there was more to the ruling than was revealed during the meeting.

The decision was a blow to Yamba residents, 800 of whom have signed a petition called for Option B to remain the council position.

Mrs Cairns was concerned the council could argue Option A be retained or funding could be lost but on a project with the same funding source, the Maclean Community Precinct, plans could change without any comeback.

“Council requested Regional NSW approve amending the scope of the Maclean Precinct (another BLER funded project) from a full refurbishment to demolish and this was granted,” Mrs Cairns said.

“Why hasn’t Option B been afforded the same opportunity as Maclean Precinct – rather than demolish?”

The proposal went to the NRPP last Tuesday and at the time of writing the panel has yet to release its decision.

Mrs Cairns, her husband Bob Cairns and two other residents made submissions opposing the DA.

Mrs Cairns said the council argument was full of holes.

“Late January this year Mayor informed, advised by General Manager, that BLER funds could not be transferred to another project and funding has been extended to June 2025,” she told the panel.

“Yet the recent business paper states council staff haven’t even lodged an application to extend the grant.”

She said council staff had always pushed the option to demolish the centre, even during community consultation.

“During the community consultation sessions in 2022 when part of the funding proposal was to sell the Wooli St Hall, people told staff they didn’t want to sell off the hall,” Mrs Cairns said.

“Staff told people to fll in the demolish and a replace option, but add a note that they didn’t want to sell Wooli St,” she said.

“Right from the outset they have wanted to push the demolition option and have pushed for that, no matter what councillors and the community wanted.”

Cr Clancy said he was pursuing his objections through the OLG, but did not think there was much of a chance to overturn the decision.

$30 million for key health worker accommodation in Western and Far West NSW

A re-elected NSW Liberal and Nationals Government will invest an additional $30 million to deliver new key worker accommodation across Western and Far West NSW as part of the Government’s plan to support health workers who choose to come and work in rural and regional NSW.

Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional NSW Paul Toole said the funding would deliver one and two-bedroom units close to health services for health workers and their families in the Western and Far West Local Health Districts.

“We’re not just investing in new hospitals and upgrades to health services for our communities, we’re investing in accommodation for the workforce that takes care of our communities,” Mr Toole said.

“This would increase our investment in health worker accommodation to more than $100 million across the State and builds on the $883 million investment we’re making to attract and retain health workers in the bush.”

Minister for Regional Health Bronnie Taylor, who announced the funding in Broken Hill, said a re-elected NSW Liberal and Nationals Government will expand the footprint of key worker accommodation to make sure there are as few barriers as possible for our new staff coming to work in rural and regional NSW.

“This initiative is already making such a difference towards helping attract new talent to the bush as well as providing a home away from home for our visiting health staff,” Mrs Taylor said.

“It has been an absolute game-changer, with high occupancy rates and I’m soexcited to see this initiative rolled out even further.

“From Quirindi to Warren and down to Cooma and Tumut, we are making the move to rural and regional NSW as easy as possible for healthcare workers by providing them with safe, comfortable accommodation close to where they are working.

“Under our Rural Health Workforce Incentive Scheme we have seen more than 100 new workers recruited to hospitals and MPSs across the Far West and Western NSW LHDs, with 35 new staff starting in Broken Hill alone.”

Minister for Western NSW Dugald Saunders said this commitment builds on the key health worker accommodation recently announced in Balranald, Broken Hill, Mudgee, Collarenebri, Walgett, Baradine and Condobolin.

“This funding will remove the challenge for healthcare workers to fnd a decent rental at short notice, making it that much easier for them to get on with the important work they provide to our rural communities”, Mr Saunders said.

“We’ve seen this accommodation successfully rolled out in other remote parts of the state, giving our frontline staff a homely and safe space to be, which is a key component of our commitment to strengthen our regional workforce,”

Since 2011, the NSW Liberal and Nationals Government has delivered more than 180 health capital works projects across NSW, with more than 130 projects currently underway – of those, more than 90 are in rural and regional areas.