In a media release issued by the Eurobodalla Greens they demand that the NSW Planning Minister return the proposed Rural Lands Strategy (RLS) component of the Local Environment Plan (LEP) to Eurobodalla Shire Council to re-visit the whole process.
“More than 1,000 community members and visitors have written to the local member and the Minister for Planning objecting to the proposals” said Will Douglas, Greens candidate for the state seat of Bega. “Furthermore, no less than 6 State government agencies have expressed concerns and objections to the Strategy in its current form. It would read like a comic script from Mad as Hell if the implications weren’t so serious”
The Greens are also calling on Council to conduct a full carbon audit on the effects of the RLS on the Eurobodalla Shire carbon budgets if the proposed strategy is fully implemented in its current state. ”In an era of accelerating climate change we urge Council to publish the results as well as Council’s plans to offset those carbon emissions,” said Mr Douglas. “Surely they didn’t send the LEP off for approval without a plan to manage carbon emissions?”
Council needs to re-establish a truly representative advisory committee to look at the current RLS. The last committee baulked at the word “stewardship however until we realise that we are custodians of this beautiful land for present and future generations, with all the humility that demands of us, we will never get the balance right. "Clearly, stacking the original committee with landowners was never going to achieve this. Only a small sub-section of the community was ultimately represented.”
To get to the bottom of the mishandling of the RLS process the Eurobodalla Greens will be asking their Greens colleagues in NSW Parliament to establish an Upper House Inquiry to examine the propriety of the process to date. “We seek to know if it meets or fails to meet the probity considerations of both the Local Government Act and Council's own Code of Conduct”, said Douglas
