Community ‘betrayed’ on Treelands Drive centre decision

As I possess a most excellent memory, I recall ‘Mum Jane’ saying once “I tell you Leems, it never rains but it pours.” I was a little confused ‘cos it was most sunny outside. She explained that it means multiple negative incidents or situations that can occur together within a short time period, (‘Leemo Cat’ here!) Hmmm; well, this is unquestionably what has happened of late in our house. I was most unwell for a while; I got better, but then I had to have 3 teeth removed. en, Mum Mum became unwell with RSV; which stands for Respiratory Syncytial Virus. Mum told me she had never even heard of RSV until she contracted it. However, a er much reading, she found that RSV was actually discovered in 1956. It has since been recognized as one of the most common causes of childhood illness; it also causes annual outbreaks of respiratory illnesses in all age groups. RSV a ects an estimated 64 million people and causes 160,000 deaths each year globally. Crikey, reading all this certainly stopped Mum in her tracks. As RSV is highly contagious she’s basically become very ‘hermit-like,’ only going out (fully masked) for essentials. Our lovely Neighbour ‘Miss Denise’ also checks on her. Mum has been sleeping & reading heaps, and I even read some of Mum’s weekend papers. CRIKEY, what a lot of stories they have in them. I read about a hotel in Sydney’s Double Bay which is ‘pet friendly’ and

I’ve contemplated your request and to be perfectly frank, there are no ‘perhaps’ or ‘maybes’ in my answer to your farcical suggestion. NUP, we cannot go stay there as you so blithely put it, ‘for a few nights’. Not even ¼ of a night in fact. Gottit? ‘AND, Leems, if you had read about this Pet Friendly establishment properly, you should have noted that only pets of the Puppy or Dog species are allowed stay. NO CATS or KITTENS!

Well, I ask you, how discriminatory is that?

Mum ‘informed’ me that her research on taking cats to a hotel showed that packing to do so would involve as much packing and preparation as one would have to do when taking a human baby.

‘For instance Leems, I would have to bring your travel carrier, blankies, in atable food bowls, litter tray & scoop, bags for waste disposal, a tarpaulin to put UNDER your litter tray in case you become over enthusiastic; your STUFF; brush, laser light, 2 bears, your squeak mouse & chirping canary, jingle toys, feathers on a stick…on and on it goes. So, Leems, I would be exhausted even before we arrived, So, I reiterate: NUP, we’re not going for a few nights at ANY hotel, EVER! Gottit? And besides, you don’t appear to have taken our budget into consideration one iota?’

(PS: TO-DAY’S news is that our sewerage has a blockage. Plumber here tomorrow.) Crikey. To avoid any more of her interminable rabble, I’m o for a small meditative sleep on the warm grass. Nitey, Leemo.

BY TIM HOWARD

A Yamba community group says Clarence Valley Council staff have “betrayed” the trust of councillors and the public in their handling of a controversial $15 million community project.

The secretary of Yamba Community Action Network, Lynne Cairns, said the group has made Government Information Public Access requests of the council and the Department of Regional NSW and uncovered some damning information in documents that revealed that councillors and the community were denied in the decision making for the Treelands Drive Community Centre project.

The controversy surrounding the centre in Yamba’s west began almost as soon as it opened in 1999.

But when council received an $11.1 million Bushfre Local Economic Recovery grant after the 2019-20 fres to be spent on the project the twists and turns have magnifed.

Some Yamba residents said a plan to demolish and rebuild the centre was not a priority in the town.

And when the Grafton Pool was suddenly closed last year because of potential catastrophic infrastructure failure, council moved on November 22 to attempt to have the BLER grant transferred to the pool and move ahead with a proposal on December 13 that became known as Option B, to refurbish the community centre and include a library.

But during December and January these plans unravelled when the Department turned down the grant switch proposal.

And council became concerned the switch from a demolish and rebuild proposal would also rule the project ineligible under the BLER funding guidelines.

At its February 2023 meeting the council controversially rescinded the December resolution and re-instated Option A, to demolish and rebuild the centre.

Council is due to take the next step in this process at its meeting on July 25.

But YambaCAN has uncovered information its members believes undermines the council’s position.

After the February meeting it launched a series of GIPA requests to the Department of Regional NSW and the council, uncovering information that Mrs Cairns said throws new light on the process.

The group has sent a letter, listing its fndings to all councillors ahead of the next meeting as well as to the Information and Privacy Commission.

“In an email exchange between a council offcer and the Department in March, its seems someone in the department has realised the council has received the wrong idea about the BLER funding guidelines,” Mrs Cairns said.

“But in response to council’s email claiming Option B falling outside BLER guidelines its senior project offcer said ‘With regard to point 2, I’m concerned that perhaps there’s been some confusion with the funding deed conditions, because for this project, we were aware Council were working on Option B and it would have been a permissible scope variation (i.e. to refurbish the existing centre, rather than knockdown/ rebuild, in order to deliver the project within the available funds). I thought it would be helpful to clarify that point.’

“From that email trail it looks like council is saying that Option B doesn’t ft the guidelines and the Department is saying it does.”

Mrs Cairns said other emails and documents revealed under GIPA requests show the council did nothing to pursue Option B by providing details to the BLER program from September 2022.

“We found emails to council asking for budgets and planning details for Option B so they could assess them, but council provided nothing,” Mrs Cairns said.

Bizarrely the council did acknowledge this situation in February, just days prior to the council meeting when general manager Laura Black emailed the department.

“Council is seeking confrmation that the BLER funds are to be used for the project that was submitted – Treelands Drive Community Hub as described.

And whether, if it does not proceed with this, it too late to have some other project on the same site considered for the funding,”

Mrs Cairns said this was not an accurate portrayal of the situation.

“The ‘some other project’ was Option B, which the department had been aware council had been considering since September 2022,” Mrs Cairns said.

“It was not ‘some other project’ but something that had been a lawful resolution of the council since the December 13 meeting.”

Mrs Cairns said she had concerns the plans for the centre which went out to tender could contravene the BLER guidelines.

She said the BLER funding was conditional on the new building containing a commercial kitchen of 93 sq m and a dedicated multi-purpose under cover youth/early learning space with outdoor fenced area.

“The plans that went out to tender contained a 31.9 sqm community kitchen and the youth space is now an area beside the driveway that is not under cover, has no fenced area and is shared with the mobility drop off point,” she said.

“It appears none of these changes were offcially approved as required by the Department.”

Mrs Cairns said another sore point was comparing the way changes to the Maclean Community Centre, which was also BLER funded, underwent radical changes, without the controversy.

Mrs Cairns said the information uncovered in the GIPA requests damages the council’s credibility in the community.

“To me it appears councillors and the community have been betrayed and decisions made which went against the community’s wishes,” she said.

Clarence Valley mayor

NAVIGATING LIFE WITH A CHILD THAT HAS LEARNING DIFFICULTIES: STORIES FROM OUR MSA FAMILIES

According to Learning

Diffculties Australia,

“It is estimated that one in 10 students struggle with a learning diffculty in Australia.” That is roughly two to three kids struggling with a learning diffculty in every classroom around the country. With a school that has an average of one class per grade, that is approximately ffteen students per primary and secondary school left behind in the mainstream system. Fifteen students missing out on the education they not only need but deserve, and this statistic only notes those that have been diagnosed. Many students are labelled naughty, disengaged or withdrawn when they actually have an undiagnosed learning diffculty.

Identifed learning diffculties can range from Dyslexia, Dysgraphia, Dyscalculia, or the impact Attention Defcit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) may have on learning. Learning diffculties are serious limitations on a person’s ability to read, write or engage in mathematics. Attending school can be extremely overwhelming, confronting and stressful for someone with a learning diffculty or someone who has struggled to keep up with the consistent ‘teach and move on’ approach in mainstream education. When students fall behind in the classroom they continue to have diffculty understanding new concepts, retaining information, solving problems, communicating effectively and engaging in broader subject areas beyond literacy and numeracy.

For someone experiencing academic stress, it can be embarrassing and debilitating. Often students will turn to behaviours that hide their limitations in the classroom in fear they will be judged. Students may become shy and