Summary of the LRTC meeting 16 August 2014 at Cowra

NOTES OF L.R.T.C. MEETING HELD AT COWRA 16TH AUGUST 2014

Mayor of Cowra: Cowra Shire Council is working towards upgrading the town’s main street and constructing a bypass for heavy vehicles. A State Government contribution has been allocated.

Mayor of Young: the local abattoir is expected to open soon; necessary roadworks are almost complete.

Weddin Shire: Loss of indexation of government funding will have a significant effect on councils’ capacity to maintain roads.

Pascale Stendell’s report proposed a format for project summaries, a listing of projects with links to relevant sites, to be placed on the LRTC website, with the aim of publicising LRTC’s work and raising public awareness of the issues. A working party was formed to develop the listing.

Mayor of Cowra re the Blayney-Demondrille-Greenethorpe (‘Cowra Lines’) railway: the State Government has announced receipt of two tenders for the restoration of services on the line. A committee is to meet in a fortnight to consider the suitability of the tenders. He also mentioned that CENTROC is supporting this process.

NSW Ports (Dom Figliomeni): advised that the sale of the electricity ‘poles and wires’ could raise as much as $6 billion dollars for infrastructure spending.

Mike Foster re tenders for the Cowra Lines restoration: Mike advised that reopening of the lines could bring 100 jobs and $450 million to the region over 20 years.

NSW Ports (Dom Figliomeni) reported on developments at NSW Ports including the Quattro grain partnership and GrainCorp’s bulk liquid facility at Port Kembla, and a grain container facility at Enfield. He reported that the future of the Maldon-Dombarton line remains unknown. A report has recently been delivered to the Federal Government.

Dubbo City Council: The Alkane mine project is with the NSW Planning Department. The project may involve a $614 000 per annum contribution for roadworks from Alkane.

Graham Dun reported some large sums being spent on the Great Western Highway. There was some discussion about GrainCorp’s plan to consolidate its operation by disposing of silos, including the competitive pressure on GrainCorp to become more efficient.

AGM Held following General Meeting

President / Chairperson: Judith Hannan
Secretary: Max Duffey
Assistant Secretary: Paul Sills
Treasurer: Dennis Hughes
Research Officer: Ian Gray

Fees: Councils & Corporations $300. Single Members $25 Pensioners $10
Fees Are Now Due

Next General Meeting To Be Announced