The controversial proposal for a men’s shed at the Black Rocks sports field south of Pottsville looks set to be revived with a push by a Labor councillor for a new vote on the issue.
Cr Reece Byrnes has lodged a motion to be debated at Tweed Shire Council’s meeting next month in the hope of overturning a recent council decision putting the men’s shed on ice while other sites are explored.
He issued a press release yesterday saying he would vote for the men’s shed, lining him up with conservative minority councillors backing the plan, giving them a slim majority.
Cr Byrnes boasted that ‘Labor’s decisive action resolves this long standing community issue and delivers the Men’s Shed for the Pottsville community’.
The Labor councillor has called for a rescission on the November decision over the Pottsville and District Men’s Shed (PDMS), led by Greens mayor Katie Milne and deputy mayor Cr Chris Cherry.
That decision deferred the determination of a licence for the shed.
Cr Reece said ‘the Men’s Shed needs a better location and at this current time Black Rocks is the only and best option’.
‘It is also vitally important that our precious koalas are protected and we have to work together to ensure that our local koala habitat is preserved,’ he said.
‘Tweed Council and the Pottsville community have repeatedly called on state MP Geoff Provest and his government to act and provide appropriate public land for the Men’s Shed.
‘To date, Geoff Provest has failed, he has been unwilling and unable to fix this issue.
‘For far too long this issue has dragged on causing concern and distress throughout the community.’
Cr Reece’s motion calls for council to ‘immediately grant a temporary licence’ to the shed for five years because of the community support for it, and ‘the division and uncertainty this issue has caused in the Pottsville community’
He said council will ‘ensure that the vital koala corridor at the Black Rocks site is monitored by council environment officers to ensure the protection of this endangered species’.
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