Minutes of the LRTC Meeting on 14 February 2015 at Harden

LACHLAN REGIONAL TRANSPORT COMMITTEE

Minutes of the Ordinary Meeting held in Harden on Saturday February 14th 2015

The Chairperson Cr Judith Hannan opened the meeting at 10:00am and asked the Mayor of Harden Shire Council Cr John Horton to welcome all to the meeting.

Present:     J. Hannan Chairperson, W. Erwin, J. Faulks, N. Milligan, I. Gray, K. Thrupp, D. Figliomeni, B. West, M. Duffey, M. Stacey, D. Hughes, J. Hughes, P. Sills, J. Horton, J. Debtitt.    Total 15

APOLOGIES: M Simpson, D Gay, J McMahon, S Freudenstein, P Laird, L Foley, G Bradbury, L Hollis, J Bradbury, A Taylor, J Walker, B Holland, B Williamson, L Ryan and P Stendal. Moved K Thrupp Seconded W Erwin that the apologies be accepted. Total 15 CARRIED.

MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING:

Moved K Thrupp Seconded B West that the minutes of the previous meeting held on November 29th 2014 be accepted. CARRIED.

 SECRETARY’S REPORT:

The Secretary Max Duffey gave a brief report saying that there was growing interest state wide in regional rail transport and also mentioned at the meeting at Parkes.

The Secretary’s Report was Moved N Milliken Seconded D Figliomeni.

CARRIED. CORRESPONDENCE

IN.              L.Foley       Apology for February Meeting

D. Gay       Apology for February Meeting

D.Gay        Statement regarding Reopening Blayney – Dombarton line

E-Mail        Re John Holland sale to China of Lines

OUT.          D. Stewart Director of Transport

L. Foley.     Regarding Rail Corridors & Invite to Feb Meeting

A. Taylor    Thanks for attending Meeting

J. Davis      LRTC Support Orange City Council

G. Berejiklian Delayed Announcement of tenders Blayney/Dombarton Line.

D. Gay.      Delayed Announcement of tenders Blayney/Dombarton Line & Invite to Feb Meeting

M Duffey also mentioned all correspondence which was tabled.

TREAUSERS REPORT:

The Treasurer Dennis Hughes presented the Treasurers Report highlighting income and expenditure for the period and said there was a closing balance of $9,506.46.Moved D. Hughes Seconded K.Thrupp CARRIED.

REPORTS:

The following reports were presented to the meeting:

D Figliomeni: The Dombarton submission has been extended to April 10th due to potential new bidders etc.

He mentioned that there may be compensation for Graincorp.

NSW Ports to target stakeholders to identify issues and build from ideas. Target cargo heading elsewhere through Botany and Port Kembla Alkane to open in near future and is likely to be serviced by Fletchers.

Quatro Grain project moving forward.

Customer forums to take place Wagga and Dubbo and there is need for this committee to attend.

Cr B West - Cowra:

Mentioned briefly the RDA Central West Freight Hub.

CENTROC looking at freight transport across region which incorporates a number of Councils on this Committee and will be working hard to

lobby relevant authorities.

Cowra Main St upgrade is moving ahead as planned and still investigating the By-pass.

The Blayney/Dombarton tender process still being looked at and if turned down Bill suggested we send a letter expressing our deep disappointment on the decision.

$6.4 billion earmarked for regional infrastructure.

That the LRTC have letters of Congratulations or Disappointment ready to send once the announcement is made and be issued to the media.

Moved B West Seconded D Figliomeni. CARRIED.

Cr P Best – Grenfell:

Did not have much to report except to say that Weddin Shire Council continually supports the committee.

M Stacey – Dubbo City Council:

Made comment in regard to the Alkane project and said that Council would recommend to Department of Planning its approval and will recommend transport options.

Fletchers is purchasing new stock in the form of three new locomotives and thirty new carriages and they have upgraded their area adjacent to the Newel Highway in Dubbo at a cost in excess of $26 million and are Looking at investors with through put and a longer term view.

I Gray to compile article for website, LRTC will support with what is needed.

I Gray:

Commented on the Melbourne to Brisbane line and $300 million has been put into it which includes double stacking. It will be going direct to port in Brisbane.

Mentioned regional NSW interconnectivity (Parkes).

P Laird: Sent in a written report on the Newcastle closure of lines into the city.    Moved:  J Hannan Seconded:

B West: That the LRTC supports the Government in the fact that there must be an Act of Parliament to close any rail lines. CARRIED

Also discussion on Rail Trails concerning the corridors on which they run must be preserved.

A letter be sent to both sides of Parliament asking the amount of money for rail infrastructure on branch lines if they win the election.

K Thrupp:      Commented on a report by Troy Grant regarding air, road and rail in Rail Digest magazine with 80% increase in freight. 

Kevin quoted figures which overwhelmingly support rail initiatives which indicate such areas as pollutions and efficiencies of rail in comparison to road.                                           He

said the article is well worth reading. (Australian Railway Digest).

Cr J Hannan – Wollondilly Shire:

Commented on the Badgery’s Creek Report and there was not much to reveal from it.

Leppington Rail Link opened.

GENERAL BUSINESS:

Again comment regarding closure of rail silos in the area of 77 across the state and the effect on landowners/farmers.

Dennis Hughes commented and asked the meeting to consider the upgrade of the website which has been discussed at previous meetings. He has received a quote from our website administrator in the amount of $2,090.

Both Dennis and Pascal Stendal met with our Administrator M Yates. The meeting was constructive and he said we should include an additional area for projects.

It is also important that the site include disclaimers for articles submitted or included on the site.

Ian Gray said each individual should be responsible for their own work or comments on the site.

P Sills commented that it is important to have links to other sites such as RMS and others because at the moment the website is only really used

by some members of this committee. Possibly look at links being included on Council websites etc.

Warwick Erwin spoke on projects and linking and ways best to get exposure and the committee’s objectives to more organisations and potential stakeholders.

D Figliomeni asked how was the best way to get links on various websites.

Warwick said the website had an identity problem and you needed to type the full name to get the desired result to what you were looking for. After some discussion it was Moved J Hannan Seconded K Thrupp that the proposal goes ahead with accepting the quote of $2090 and obviously there will be some fine tuning.                                                                   CARRIED

Comment was made regarding the position of Editor for the site and articles needed to be reviewed or vetted etc.

Warwick Erwin is happy to assist in any way with editing/vetting etc and this is much appreciated

K Thrupp asked that a note of condolence be sent to the family of Cr Penny of Forbes who recently passed away. Moved: K Thrupp Seconded: D Hughes That a card be sent to Cr Penny’s Family CARRIED

M Duffey commented that the Mayor of Oberon is keen to support any initiatives from the committee.

Agenda for next meeting to be held at Parkes on the 23rd May 2015 and the meeting look at economic development.

There being no further business the meeting closed at 11:45am 

CHAIRPERSON:……………………………………….