Council meeting update - 10 August 2021

Here is an overview of outcomes from tonight’s Ordinary Meeting of Tamworth Regional Council:

Councillors tonight supported a Mayoral Minute to write and express “extreme disappointment with the lack of consultation” by a NSW Government decision which will result in a $270,000 loss of revenue for Tamworth Regional Council. The Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment (Compliance Fees) Regulation 2021 removes the ability for local government to charge a compliance levy on development applications. Councillors want the decision made by the State Government to be reversed and a minimum two-year moratorium on the removal of the Compliance levy for all Councils, to enable a transition into any new scheme. Support for the request will be sought from partnering Councils on the Namoi Joint Organisation and State Member for Tamworth, Kevin Anderson. If the decision is not reversed the loss in Council revenue will make it necessary to revise its current compliance services.

In a move aimed at allowing international and interstate workers to temporarily use International Flight Training Tamworth accommodation, Councillors resolved to seek a change to current zoning rules. The facility at Tamworth Regional Airport is currently zoned SP1 – Special Activities which means the site’s long-term use is restricted to “airport related activities”. This is the case when the facility accommodates student pilots but the current workers are only permitted to stay for a maximum 182 days within a 12-month period. Councillors supported a recommendation to seek an amendment to the Tamworth Regional Local Environmental Plan 2010 to allow the workers to continue to live in the accommodation. In April this year Council agreed to provide temporary housing for local food manufacturing business workers. It was seen to be a solution to what was thought to be a short-term low availability of suitable local rental accommodation for the workers. However, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic led to Council reassessing the arrangement. A report to Council detailed economic modelling which showed the positive impact of the direct addition of 100 jobs in the food product manufacturing sector would have on the Tamworth region’s economy. It said the combination of “all direct, industrial and consumption effects would result in a total estimated rise in output of $103.03 million”.

Despite working tirelessly over the last two years to find resolutions to issues presented in the Taminda Employment Lands Planning Proposal, Council has determined not to make the Local Environmental Plan pursuant to Section 3.36 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979. Councillors agreed that progressing the planning proposal further in the current circumstances does not represent sound land-use planning or a safe and sensible outcome for either a future developer or an adjoining affected landowner. Council will inform the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment on the decision and will not pursue any outstanding payments owed by the proponent in relation to the processing of the Planning Proposal.

Expressions of Interest will soon be called for the short-term use of ‘The Ranch, 266 Oxley Lane, Westdale’ and ‘284 Gidley-Appleby Lane’ following Council’s endorsement tonight. ‘The Ranch’, which could provide some exciting future use opportunities by Council, will be offered for a 12-month lease with a 12-month extension option while the Gidley-Appleby Lane land, the site for the new Tamworth Organics Recycling Facility, will be offered for a six-month lease with a six-month extension option. A report tabled at the meeting said Council continues to incur holding costs for both properties during their ownership and the short-term leases could provide a partial offset.

Due to the postponement of the 2021 NSW Local Government Elections to December 4, the meeting schedule has been changed for Tamworth Regional Council. Councillors agreed that an Ordinary Meeting could now be held on Tuesday 14 September. It was not scheduled when the election was to take place on 4 September. With the election now on 4 December, the Ordinary Meeting which was planned for 14 December, 2021 is not able to be held. It is not expected the Declaration of the Poll will be made until after that date. The date of Council meetings can only be changed by a resolution of the Council.

For more information, see the full reports at www.tamworth.nsw.gov.au/business-papers

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