Bridge Petition Quotes...
"The ecology of the creek and its surrounding eco system needs protection against the pollution that will surely result in a culvert construction. The Council needs to listen to its constituents, that is what they are there for!"
Lynda Staker, Mackay
"surely there must be Environmental Impact regulations out there that can stop this insanity"
Rita Coles, Duffy
Read more petition quotes here
Collector demolition abuse of process, position
Bungendore Mirror | 29 July 2010
From www.collectorvoice. com
A posting on the Collector Voice website says the Upper Lachlan Council has broken the law in three key areas in its the battle with Collector residents over the replacement of the old Federal Highway bridge over the Collector Creek.
"The first is non-compliance with the NSW Roads Act (1993). The Council has repeatedly stated that it will be lowering the road for some distance (reports have varied from 50-100 metres) adjacent to its proposed culvert. It has has not yet consulted with the community on this matter. The Council is breaking the law since Section 29 of the NSW Roads Act states that any proposed changes to road levels requires that the Council conduct a formal consultation process with the community and affected persons.
"The second is abuse of Freedom of Information provisions. On 9 June an FOI request was made to Council by two Collector residents for all the papers relating to the Collector Bridge replacement project. Council refused until a $200 deposit was made. On 28 June the $200 was paid, although there was no basis for the charge.
"By 2 July Council had not responded so the applicants again requested access to the relevant files. Council again refused. This is in contravention of its own policy that:
All files held by Council except those specified in 4.4, are accessible to the public without the need to make an FOI application and are available for viewing on request. Files may be inspected at the various Departments of Council by appointment."
"On 14 July the Council Officer responsible admitted the earlier advice was incorrect. Since the critical Council meeting was on 15 July it would appear that this was stalling tactics.
"The third is conflicts of interest in the use of consultants Laterals Planning Pty Ltd performed the Review of Environmental Factors for the Collector Bridge project. Council's Chief Planner is head of Engineering and Management with this company. The Laterals website states that his skills include 'Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) preparation and assessment' and consultation and mediation with Councils and statutory Government departments.' "This is at the very least a conflict of interest which should mean that Laterals Planning Pty Ltd should not have been employed on this project. The fact that his cousin is the Council engineer in charge of this project is an additional conflict of interest
"Upper Lachlan Council is clearly breaking the law and has conflicts interest in its management of the Collector Bridge project. Given the above information was obtained with extremely limited access to Council records, there may well also be other matters where the Council has something to hide by refusing to comply with FOI requirements.
"The above instances.. will be taken up with the NSW Minister for Local Government, the NSW Ombudsman, the NSW Attorney General and the Independent Commission Against Corruption." the posting said.
You can view the Bungendore Mirror front page article at their website here
or the Collector Voice archived document here [pdf]
Return to the Collector Voice Home Page here
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