Trevor White, Uki.
I would like to bring your attention to a letter sent to the Tweed Valley Weekly last Thursday (August 16). the letter was sent by a Tweed Shire Councillor, Pryce Alsop.
In the letter which alludes, but not directly, to the water mining operation recently closed down (due to unapproved facilities) in Urliup Road, Bilambil, Councillor Alsop suggests that ‘sometimes businesses may have to breach their conditions to grow and evolve and I believe this is acceptable to a degree or point’.
I was incredulous when I read this, an elected Councillor encouraging the breaching of Consent conditions for development applications. It is bizarre and more importantly extremely irresponsible to actually put a statement like this in print for the voters to see.
Council has voted to abandon the process of removing water mining from the LEP which has meant, according to the director of development services at Tweed Council, Vince Connell, several new water mining applications are about to be lodged.
This is despite the strong resistance to water mining by the overwhelming majority of residents in the Shire, particularly those affected directly by water tankers, thundering past their doorsteps.