Council wants answers from Sydney Water

Mayor Neil Reilly is to contact Sydney Water to call for them to come down and provide a briefing about the local situation.

"There are multiple problems with Sydney Water's service to our LGA – the lack of sewage capacity at Jamberoo, the constant breeches of their system that effect our health, tourism and amenity, and our ability for further growth," he says.

"On a Sunday I’ve been called out to the lower end of Shoalhaven St and seen toilet paper floating in the street. In the 21st century that is unacceptable.

"I swim daily in the rock- pools and there are somedays when I can’t because of the sewerage outfalls.

"They haven't given any answers to our questions. It just isn't good enough."

Asked if he knew anything more about Sydney Water's initiative to upgrade Bombo treatment plant to reduce odours, the Mayor said the first he'd heard of it was reading about it in The Bugle

A motion at the March Meeting by Councillor Matt Brown endorsed the frustrated initiative, with all councillors concerned about the impact of the aging system on livability, health and the economy.

"Water and sewage are fundamental to the growth of any community," says Mayor Reilly.

"This community is flying blind and it is not fair.

"It makes the job of Council almost impossible because we do not have certainty around our own growth pattern and we are beholden to infrastructure planners in Sydney.

"We won’t know if we can properly service population targets set by the Greater Cities Commission, because we have not been given the infrastructure or asset plans for our own community.

"We are required to have them for every asset class we manage, and Sydney Water needs to step up to the mark and furbish Council with that information." of keeping Blue Haven, and this report emphasises the reasons why it should,” says CSU organiser, Rudi Oppitz.

While many other councils look after their own sewage and water, the Kiama LGA finds itself on the very southern end of Sydney Water's responsibilities.

"From an environmental perspective, it is not sustainable to be having continual crisis management of overflow. For a place like this, renowned for its natural beauty and coastline, it is a disgrace," says Mayor Reilly.

"The community and Council deserve better."

“No business case has been put forward on the basis that if we were to keep it, these are the things that we would need to do to keep it operating successfully.

“If there was a business case that put forward that side, then the community and the residents and the union would have something to look at so they could say, right now we get it. Now we see that this is impossible or that there are challenges, but they aren’t insurmountable.”

In his view, the analysis released at the March Extraordinary Meeting on the Keep, Partnership or Sell options isn’t enough as only a synopsis of the report was made public.

“Should we as advocates for our members and aged care sit back and accept what is laid out in front of us if it isn’t complete? Council hasn’t demonstrated any transparency from the day they came up with the idea.

“The need for commercial-in-confidence [keeping information confidential for commercial reasons] goes out the window when looking at the magnitude of the decision.” Mr Oppitz is disappointed Council hasn’t been using the State Election to lobby for extra funding, such as that promised to another electorate for its aged care operations.

For residents, the commissioned report concludes that “divesting Blue Haven from being a government-run facility to for-profit or not-for-profit is likely to result in a wide range of poor outcomes continued p4

Process of reclassifying Bonaira starts

Having received a Gateway Determination that it can proceed with the process of reclassifying the land at Blue Haven Bonaira to Operational Land, Kiama Council has put the proposal out on public exhibition for 28 days, given public criticism of the minimum 20 days originally set.

While the reclassification from Community to Operational land has become a priority now that Council has decided to sell Blue Haven Bonaira, CEO Jane Stroud says it is something that should have been done a long time ago.

“It is really clear that in three months of constructing that facility it should have been converted as part of the DA process,” says CEO Jane Stroud, who suspects that other Council holdings used for operational purposes may also have fallen through the cracks.

“It is a shame it didn’t happen back then, but we do have to go through the process.”

A letter from the Department of Planning & Environment accompanying the Gateway Determination says, ‘the proposed reclassification corrects a historical land status anomaly to more accurately reflect the existing operational use of the site as a seniors housing facility.’

There will be a public hearing at least three weeks after submissions closing on 11 April.

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