A range of issues for Tweed Shire were addressed at last week’s council meeting (October 26) from the lack of mobile and internet coverage at Pottsville to textile recycling and how best to welcome refugees.
Lack of mobile and internet telecommunications in Pottsville has been an ongoing issue for the area leaving people without Eftpos in shops or able to connect with family in emergencies. At the June 1, 2023 council meeting the construction of a new Telecommunications monopole in Pottsville was rejected by Tweed councillors.
Highlighting the previous rejection of the monopole by Tweed Shire Council (TSC) a petition containing 1,615 signatures, with 1,383 valid signatories, had been received by TSC on October 5 stating it was ‘Time for Better Phone & Internet Reception in Pottsville!’
Councillor Reece Byrnes (Labor) who was ‘owner’ of the petition said that it was ‘time that this matter gets resolved. And we’re aware of course that the provider has resubmitted the application, I think today.’
Responding to the petition Cr James Owen’s (Liberal), who has commented multiple time that the staff should be allowed to get on with approving and rejecting development applications(DAs) with less interference from councillors ‘because they are the professionals’ told the meeting that ‘in this case, they got it wrong’.
However, Mayor Chris Cherry (Independent), who has family in the affected area, rejected Cr Owen’s assertion that the council staff had previously ‘got it wrong’ to recommend rejection of the pole. Cr Cherry said that the council’s ‘staff were acting in accordance with the legislation that’s required’ with the provision of their advice.
She reminded the meeting that providing telecommunications was not the responsibility of the council but the responsibility of ‘telcos’ and that it was their responsibility ‘to provide proper service to Pottsville and the surrounding area’.
Cr Cherry pointed out that previously the telcos had not submitted the required ‘ecological studies that are needed to allow the staff to recommend it for approval’.
Councillor Dr Nola Firth (Greens) also pointed out that the pole needed to be moved approximately 18m so that it complied with the wetland protections.
Cr Cherry said she had repeatedly met with the teclos to clarify how to move forward with the application. The site for the monopole is also subject to a caravan park application so ‘there’s a lot of things in play here’ she said.
‘I’m very glad that they [the telcos] appear to be finally committed to taking some action on Pottsville because until today we had no application on the table. Council [were] powerless to do anything to change the outcome here. So I think it’s a positive step that they have finally submitted that review application.’
While Cr Cherry said the monopole would help in Pottsville she highlighted that it would not ‘solve all of Pottsville’s issues’.
All councillors noted the petition.
Textile waste
Councillors Firth and Meredith Dennis (Independent) brought forward a Notice of Motion (NoM) to investigate a trial partnership with local charities and textile recycling services.
Cr Firth highlighted that around 6,000kgs of textile waste goes to landfill every ten minutes in Australia and that much of this material contains plastic. She pointed out that a number of other councils in NSW were now taking action on textile waste so that it did not end up in landfills, rivers and the environment.
‘In Shoalhaven, they have blue bins where you put your textiles and then the textiles are taken and the plastic is removed from them and turned into little pellets which are then made into new products. They also end up with cellulose powder out of some of the rest of the materials and that’s also made into a product,’ explained Cr Firth.
Councillor Dennis highlighted that the local charity she works with ‘would have a minimum of 50 very large bags every week’ that are collected and likely go to landfill.
Both Dennis and Firth highlighted the importance of recycling effectively and supporting the TSC’s ‘zero waste policy and commitment to a circular economy’.
The NoM was supported by all councillors (Cr Warren Polglase was absent).
Welcoming refugees to Tweed
Cr Firth also moved the NoM that looked to provide welcome packs to refugees in the TSC area reminding councillors that in September 20015 the TSC had resolved ‘that Council joins the initiative of the Refugee Council of Australia in making a declaration that Tweed be identified as a Refugee Welcome Zone.’ The official declaration was signed in October 2016.
The proposal was brought forward at the request of the Tweed Welcomes Refugees group which are working with CRISP (Community Refugee Integration and Settlement Pilot is an Australian-partnered program) and is looking to assist in settling a refugee family in Tweed.
‘The program provides a year’s worth of support for a refugee family including accommodation, work, setting up services etc,’ explained Cr Firth.
Five welcome packs a year were approved for up to $2,600 per annum.
