Message from the Mayor: 4 November 2022

This week's Message from the Mayor comes to you via video. 

I'm John Connors the mayor of Dungog shire, bringing you this week's mayoral message.

Each year on Australia Day, Council holds a celebration of the day and uses that occasion to announce the Australia Day awards for people throughout the shire. Nominations for those awards are now open and close on the 25th of November. I encourage people throughout the shire to consider appropriate nominees and get a nomination in as soon as possible.

The various categories are Citizen of the Year, Young Citizen of the Year, Environmental Citizen of the Year, Volunteer, Senior Sportsman and Junior Sportsman. The appropriate nomination forms are available on Council’s website or at Council’s Administration Centre, the Dungog Library, the Paterson café, and the cafe at East Gresford. So please consider the members of your particular community and make a nomination before the 25th of November.

Hunter Water has put out an exhibition the erosion management plan for the Seaham Weir Pool. The Seaham Weir Pool of course is part of the Williams River above the weir. The plan can be viewed on the Hunter Water website and I encourage those that are concerned or impacted by the plan, those that enjoy the river or those that use the river or benefit from the river, to go onto Hunter Water’s website, have a look at the plan and then there's facility on the website to make a submission. And I urge you to do that.

You can make a submission until the 22nd of November. So please, if it impacts on you, or if you're interested, go to the Hunter Water website and read the plan and make a submission with respect to it.

And lastly, Martins Creek Quarry which is a very significant development, which has very significant impacts on the villages of Martins Creek and Paterson in particular, but also on the community between Martin's Creek, Paterson and Tocal at the end of the shire and through Maitland Shire to the New England Highway.

The Independent Planning Commission in New South Wales is holding an inquiry into the current development application, the state-significant development application which has been lodged on behalf of the applicants. The inquiry will be conducted at Tocal Agricultural College next Monday and Tuesday, that's the 7th and 8th of November. Registrations have now closed but people wishing to make a submission, however the proceedings will be available to view online contemporaneously with the submissions being made or you can attend Tocal College.

So again, whilst it's too late to register to make a submission, I urge people to turn up or participate by zoom in listening to the proceedings. There is then an opportunity to make a written submission to the IPC should you wish. Details of how to do that and when to do it by can be can be obtained from the Independent Planning Commission New South Wales website and you'll see a category there Martin's Creek Quarry. So once again, this is the opportunity to participate, please do if the proposed development has any impact on you.

And with that, that's it for me until next week. Good luck. Goodbye.