BREAKING NEWS 2 August 2017
It seems York’s landfill troubles aren’t
over after all.
The rumour in town—I think it’s more than
just a rumour—is that the owner of Allawuna is negotiating to sell his farm to
a second landfill company, the first one, SITA aka Suez-Lyonnaise, having ruled
itself out of contention last year.
So far the Shire hasn’t received a planning
application from the prospective purchaser, but apparently one is on the way.
Don’t blame the farmer, Mr Robert
Chester. It’s his land, and he’s
entitled to sell it to anyone willing to buy.
No, blame the Council, which despite
occasional nudges from members of the public—and this blog—hasn’t bothered to repeal
or amend the special use (noxious industry) provisions of York’s town planning scheme that make
such an application certain to obtain a positive ruling from SAT if Council and
JDAP reject it.
Our Shire President, David ‘Braveheart’
Wallace, has admitted to a member of the public that Council has been ‘remiss’
in not attending to what should have been its number one priority the moment it
took office last year.
He should resign. The buck stops with him.
‘Remiss’ is too tame a word for such an
obvious dereliction of duty.
‘Negligent’ is only one of the opprobrious adjectives that spring
unbidden to the mind.
Some York hearts may be gladdened, notably
those of Cr Trevor Randell, visionary spokesman for folk who would like to see
York become the waste hub of the Wheatbelt, and his bosom buddies at Avon
Waste.
But most I think will be saddened, even
made bitter by the knowledge that the most likely outcome of the forthcoming
planning application could probably have been avoided by a few timely strokes
of the pen.
*******
Since posting the above, I’ve been surprised
to discover that information concerning the new landfill proposal—while far
from being general knowledge—has circulated more widely in the community than
I’d thought.
It appears that councillors—or at any rate
the Shire President—may have known about the proposal for some time.
I believe Mr Wallace and at least one other
councillor visited Mr Chester at his home in an attempt to persuade him to
abandon the proposal. I can only
imagine Mr Chester’s response, but it seems likely that his visitors were instructed
to go forth, be fruitful and multiply, though not perhaps in those exact words.
Why, then, has the community at large had
to wait until now to learn that another landfill looms on our horizon, bringing
with it another existential threat to our safety, way of life and peace of
mind?
Why the secrecy?
Is it because councillors recognize that
they have fallen down on the job by not changing TPS2 when they should have—but
were hoping Mr Chester’s deal with the as yet unidentified landfill company
would quietly fall through before the rest of us had a chance to find out?
Councill kept us in the dark about the SITA landfill, the last thing we expected was the current council to repeat that mistake.
ReplyDeleteWhy wasn't a public meeting called at the first whiff?
Is it because their so scared it's considered safer to be inactive (on most matters)? It may be just me but I do believe the majority of council and the shire want to do the right thing,so much so that nobody knows what to do. I think that is making for clouded judgement and indecisiveness. I wouldn't want to be them, wouldn't want to be us either.
DeleteThere were two ladies - Robyn and Kay Davies who fought for near on 5 years to stop the first landfill and managed to do so very nicely indeed at their own expense. There was another group who tried but lost their intervener status and they collected a lot of money to boot and now the story goes that a certain member of that group is going to write a book. OMG - it will be fiction because as said their intervener status was stripped from them in the courtroom well before the curtain fell on SITA/SUEZ, as did the Shire of York's lawyer. If this is true - then I would expect that more people will be turning up to help these two ladies if they shall choose to fight for the whole community.
DeleteRobyn and Kay Davies put up one hell of a fight the last time we had a Landfill threat, without asking for financial assistance from the community and can be proud they retained intervener status at the State Administration Tribunal till the very end.
ReplyDeleteIf there is another battle against a landfill, York residents better start praying Robyn and Kay Davies will decide to go in batting for us and this time be prepared to help them cover their costs.
A book about a Landfill issue in York - are you serious? I trust the author will be gracious enough to give credit to Robyn and Kay Davies for the extraordinary effort they put in.
Some mischief maker has indicated that the proposed book treats Robyn and Kay unkindly.
DeletePerhaps the author would like to comment on his assertion?
Those of us who followed the landfill battle closely know how much it cost those ladies in 'blood, sweat, toil and tears', not to mention money. In my opinion, the people of York owe them a huge debt of gratitude. They fought the good fight to the bitter end.
There are council elections in a few months, why not show them at the ballot box the error of their ways instead of knifing them n the back like conspiring assassins! Nominate and run yourself if you think you could do a better job, that, after all is what democracy is all about! Not hiding in the dark bitching about decisions that have not yet been made or acted upon.
ReplyDeleteNobody has been 'knifed in the back'. There are no 'conspiring assassins'. Unlike you, I am completely open about what I write and who I am. I am not 'hiding in the dark'. You are.
DeleteI'm sure I could 'do a better job' but I won't be standing for election to council again. It would be a waste of time and energy on my part. Besides, I think I am more usefully employed keeping folk informed about stuff that those in authority would rather they didn't know.
I don't think you and your kind have the vaguest idea 'what democracy is all about'. You seem to spend your lives immersed in an ocean of nonsense, surfacing now and again to spout tiresome slogans and silly cliches. Try thinking for a change. It's good exercise and helps to stave off dementia.
Your reply is infantile, the blog speaks for itself old boy, what! better than to live in your communist utopia, Please come on. Well old boy I don't think you are up to the task and I don't believe that you give people a fair go nor do you report the facts in your blogs, just what your view is. If people don't agree with your view then you do the old communist put down. Is that not right old boy. Maybe dementia has already set in say what!
DeleteOh dear, it seems that National Dickhead Week has rolled around again.
DeleteI don't care what you believe, old boy. I'm not swayed by the juvenile posturings of somebody like yourself whose intellectual equipment appears to consist of a rudimentary nervous system with a bony knob at the end.
Never mind, at least you're in no danger of dementia.
Great response and keep up the good work Mr. Plumridge.
Delete