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Seniors FEATURE
2021
APRIL 8-14, 2021 | LOCALLY OWNED & INDEPENDENT | FREE!
Inside this week
SENIORS FESTIVAL
IN OUR NATURE NO matter how old you are during this year’s NSW Seniors Festival, you can always make time for the great outdoors and living it up with friends for fun. Ingenia Gardens Dubbo resident Sheryn Hill is seen here enjoying the company of local youngsters Vahli, Kobe and Ashton Milne who have joined her to celebrate the beginning of the NSW Seniors Festival. Find our annual NSW Seniors Festival Feature inside, brimming with information about lots of services available for our region’s seniors, plus all the details on this year’s activities including a special expo being held at the Dubbo RSL Memorial Club on Wednesday, April 14. PHOTO: DUBBO PHOTO NEWS
Developers not at fault: Lawrence By YVETTE AUBUSSON-FOLEY NEGATIVE feedback from some in the community towards the developers of a proposed Bunnings at the former RAAF depot as well as proposed rugby league ovals at Regand Park are unfounded, according to acting Dubbo Regional Council mayor Stephen Lawrence. “There is absolutely nothing to suggest that the proponents of the RAAF base development and the Regand Park proposal have done anything wrong,” Cr Lawrence said. “They, like anyone else, are entitled to put proposals to council and they are all to be commended for their industry and work
in their respective enterprises. It is a matter for council to then ensure that proper process is followed. “Failings of council process and perceptions of it are in no way attributable to these people and it’s most unfair for people to engage in any speculation of that nature,” Cr Lawrence said. Cr Lawrence was speaking after he and Cr John Ryan called for Mayor Ben Shields’ resignation and departure from council on ABC Western Plains radio last week. On Wednesday morning seven councillors signed or committed to a document calling on Cr Shields to resign and later that afternoon the mayor was rushed
to Dubbo Hospital after what has been described as a “medical episode”. A community vigil was held at the weekend, and a request from family spokesperson Cr Greg Mohr for privacy for Cr Shields and his family indicated grave health concerns. Cr Lawrence said, “The seven councillors remain committed to the view that the return of Ben Shields as mayor cannot occur. We are obviously taking into account information about his medical condition in terms of what occurs in terms of particular motions, but we will not be swayed by emotion – that would be to fail in our roles as public leaders.”
“All allegations of misconduct against any councillors are being dealt with appropriately according to proper process.” Cr Lawrence said Ben Shields had undermined the planning process by holding a press conference on site on the morning the Bunnings development application was announced, declaring it was great for Dubbo. “When a mayor does a press conference with a developer on the day that a DA is lodged and appears to prejudge the DA, the mayor has done the wrong thing, not the developer.” Cr Lawrence has been critical of Cr Shields since he introduced a mayoral minute to council without warning during an ordinary
council meeting on February 22, regarding a proposal to allocate 10 hectares of public riverbank land in Regand Park to the St Johns Junior Rugby League Club to build four sporting ovals. Cr Lawrence told Dubbo Photo News there was a vast differentiation between the proposals themselves, which are perfectly fine to be put, and the way mayor Ben Shields disrupted proper process regarding planning laws and community perceptions. ❱❱
MORE ON THIS STORY Vigil in park for hospitalised mayor P2 MP calls for independent investigator at council P3
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