The Ballina Shire Council has gone against its own staff’s recommendations to ensure that the proposed dredging of North Creek remains on track.
Staff had recommended that sediment testing in North Creek be delayed until grant applications for the entire $750,000 start-up costs had been submitted.
But a motion by mayoral hopeful, Cr Keith Williams, reversed that decision, and the sediment testing will go ahead as planned using remaining funds in the project budget to meet the expected $60,000 to $100,000 costs associated with the next phase.
Dredging North Creek has been on the agenda for years, with the understanding that it would improve navigation and deliver environmental benefits by increasing tidal flows to critical fish habitat further upstream.
Councillor Williams had argued that the staff report was clear that sufficient funds remained in the project budget to meet the expected $60,000 to $100,000 cost of this next phase of investigation.
‘We should seek funding for the major environmental studies required, but sediment testing is our basic due diligence as a Council, to make sure there is an extractable resource and a financially viable project,’ he said.
Cr Williams said the unanimous vote was a relief.
He said the sediment testing should start in the last quarter of the year and would determine what could be done with material taken from the creek.
Some could be sold, however the council will also need large amounts of fill for proposed expansions to the airport industrial estate, he said.
‘The good thing is that we can pump the material straight from the creek to the site so there will be no need for trucks,’ he said.
‘We’ve got $90,000 in budget and we’ve agreed to spend that to keep this project moving.’
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