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Boundaries Commission seeks public input on boundary adjustment proposal

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:15:29 GMT

The NSW Local Government Boundaries Commission (LGBC) is currently considering BURRA's boundary adjustment submission to transfer Burra, Urila and all of Royalla Estate from Palerang to the Queanbeyan City Council area.

The LGBC is seeking comment on the proposed boundary adjustment and has called for written submissions from members of the public. BURRA urges you to write to the LGCB in support of the boundary adjustment.

For more information, including links to information about BURRA's proposal, the LGBC website and the criteria to address, visit the News page on the BURRA website.

Marjason elected as Palerang Mayor

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 15:29:15 GMT

At the first meeting of the newly elected Palerang Council, Ian Marjason was elected Mayor in a 5-4 result, beating Catherine Moore in the two-round, secret ballot. Moore was subsequently elected as Deputy Mayor.

Council also resolved to change the meeting schedule to meet monthly with an additional workshop scheduled for the third Thursday of the month. Ordinary Council meetings will start at 2 pm.

More information about the Mayoral and Deputy Mayoral ballots and council meeting schedule are available on the BURRA website.

Five beautiful gardens on show for the Burra Open Gardens weekend

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 14:39:04 GMT

Five local gardens will be showcased over the Burra Open Gardens weekend on 8 and 9 November.

New for this year will be a program of garden-related workshops at St Paul's Church. Two award-winning landscape architects will provide tips on planning water-wise gardens and rural blocks. There will also be practical sessions on hurdle fencing and stone wall techniques.

Details of the Burra Open Gardens weekend – including workshops – are available from the Open Gardens page on the BURRA website.

Box Gum Grassy Woodland project on the Landcare agenda

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 21:21:42 GMT

The next meeting of the Burra Landcare Group will be held on Monday, 22 September in the Burra Hall. The meeting starts at 7.30 pm.

Adam Muyt, local Catchment Officer of the Murrumbidgee Catchment Management Authority, will be the guest speaker and will be speaking about the Box Gum Grassy Woodland project and how landholders can get involved.

The meeting will be followed by the AGM.

More information is available from the Burra Landcare page on the BURRA website.

Burra Open Gardens - 8 and 9 November

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 15:16:14 GMT

Burra Open Gardens - 8 and 9 November

Mark these dates in your diary now!

Once again this year, a number of stunning local gardens will be open to the public over the weekend - helping to raise funds for the Queanbeyan Lions and Burra Community Association.

Brochures setting out the garden program and other activities are available at Queanbeyan and Palerang Council offices and at many garden centres around the region.

More details on the BURRA website.

Palerang Council Election Results

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 14:34:50 GMT

The first preference distribution of votes cast has been counted for the Palerang Council election. Early trends indicate that the lead candidates in three of the five group tickets are assured of electoral success.

Didn't vote in the Palerang Elections?

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 14:34:11 GMT

Voting in the weekend council elections was compulsory. The penalty for not voting in local government elections is $55.00. If you were unable to vote on Saturday 13 September and you believe you have a valid reason for not voting, you may be able to avoid a penalty notice being issued.

Palerang Council seeks boundary inquiry

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:18:30 GMT

Palerang Councillors voted to seek a public inquiry into Palerang's boundaries with neighbouring Councils. The decision was taken at the Council meeting in Braidwood on Thursday 10 th July 2008, after members of BURRA attended and asked Council to support an inquiry into the BURRA boundary submission, which seeks to relocate Burra, Urila and all of Royalla in the Queanbeyan City Council area.

The Council meeting agenda included a request from the local Government Boundaries Commission for Council's response to the BURRA submission, as well as an item discussing a proposal to alter the boundary between Palerang and Goulburn Mulwaree Councils in the Taylor 's Creek Road/Woodlawn area north of Bungendore.

Councillors voted to ask for a public inquiry to revisit the boundaries established during the 2003 amalgamations which merged Tallaganda and Yarrowlumla Shires into what later became Palerang Shire. Following the merger, Palerang was left with a huge geographic area without a major population centre.

At a meeting earlier this month, Queanbeyan City Council had already resolved to ask the Boundaries Commission to hold a public inquiry into the BURRA submission.

Queanbeyan Council votes for a public inquiry into boundary adjustment

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 15:30:10 GMT

The Boundaries Commission has written to both Queanbeyan and Palerang Councils seeking their view on BURRA's boundary adjustment proposal.

Queanbeyan Councillors considered the matter at at a Council Workshop held on Wednesday, 26 June. A Mayoral Minute (PDF 462 kb) states that it was generally expressed that Council would welcome a public inquiry into this proposal and would reconsider the proposal once the information under Section 263(3) was made known to Council. At their meeting on 2 July, Queanbeyan City Council council voted to request that the Boundaries Commission conduct an inquiry into the proposal.

Speaking in support of the motion to request an inquiry, Cr Kerry White stated that while he thought that there may be a cost impost on the existing Queanbeyan ratepayers should the proposal go ahead, Council did not have enough information to make an informed decision on the matter. An inquiry would provide information for the Council to better understand the implications.

Palerang Council will consider the matter at their meeting on 10 July 2008 in Braidwood. The meeting starts at 6 pm.

Disappointingly, from the business papers published on their website, it appears that Palerang Council will not support the residents' desire for an inquiry by the Boundaries Commission into the proposal. Although unable to supply information about the rates collected and corresponding expenditure on the B/U/R area, Palerang claims that the rest of the ratepayers would suffer if the proposal goes ahead (or alternatively, that we are a drain on their resources so QCC would not want us!).

Gas-fired power station for Williamsdale?

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 15:28:45 GMT

Confusion surrounds ActewAGL announcement to build a 500MW Gas-fired power station at Williamsdale.

The original announcement, made on 25 June by outgoing ActewAGL CEO John Mackay, stated that the organisation was negotiating with a land owner to purchase a property in Williamsdale for the construction of the power station. In a radio interview on ABC666 radio on the same day, Mr Mackay failed to identify the property but said that it was located some distance from neighbouring properties and "would not be seen" by any of neighbours nor from the Monaro Highway.

The vagueness of the news reports and Mr Mackay's assurances about the project prompted BURRA to contact ActewAGL for more information. Previous experience with developers of industrial power generation plants in our neighbourhood, namely Acciona Energy's now defunct industrial wind plant on Molonglo Ridge, have taught us a lesson in not taking such assurances at face value.

In a statement sent to BURRA on 7 June, ActewAGL claim that they are only in a pre-feasibility study phase and that another company, TransGrid, is negotiating with the property owner for the purpose of constructing a 330,000/132,000V substation to provide a second point of electricity supply into the ACT to supplement the existing major electricity supply point in northern Canberra. ActewAGL will construct 132,000V transmission lines from this new substation some 16km through to Theodore and are negotiating with leaseholders along the transmission line route to acquire an easement for the line.

ActewAGL's statement is at odds with earlier media reports that ActewAGL is in negotiations to buy a privately owned, 210ha grazing property at Williamsdale, south of Canberra, for the project. According to a report in The Canberra Times on 30 June, the property is owned by Queanbeyan resident Winston Nash who confirmed that he had been approached by the ActewAGL consortium and that contracts were being drawn up.

The property in question is located at Williamsdale (Block 1653, District of Tuggeranong). The property abuts the Monaro Highway and the southern border of the ACT.

BURRA will be seeking further information about the project, in particular a clarification of ActewAGL's intentions in light of conflicting reports about the status of the property purchase.

Another 50+ new homes for Burra?

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 10:39:27 GMT

Two proposals submitted by landholders to re-zone greenfield land to provide over 50 new homes within Burra are highlighted in Palerang Council's Rural Residential, Rural and Environmental Areas Discussion Paper.

Importantly, and despite comments made as recently as last year by Palerang's Mayor and Burra resident, Jim Maclachlan, that large-scale sub-division in Burra was “finished”, these proposals involve two parcels of land, located at Williamsdale Rd/Warm Corner, and Keewong Lane.

Written comments and submissions regarding Palerang's Rural Residential, Rural and Environmental Areas Discussion Paper close on 27 June 2008. The paper discusses important topics such as appropriate lot sizes and whether the existing rural residential areas in Burra should be re-zoned to ‘Environmental Living'.

More information is available from the BURRA website.

Molonglo wind farm runs out of puff

Sat, 31 May 2008 02:55:19 GMT

Plans to build a controversial wind farm on the nearby Molonglo Ridge have been dumped by the developer, Acciona Energy.

The wind farm faced overwhelming opposition from communities on both sides of the ridge who formed the Molonglo Landscape Guardians (MLG) to fight the proposal. The MLG consistently argued that the proposed site was too close to homes, too close to wildlife habitat, and too close to water catchment areas.

In a media release from the company, Acciona's Managing Director, Brett Thomas said that the site did not meet their standards as appropriate development. Why it took the developer four years to come to the same conclusion as the community is unclear.

More details are available from the Burra Website