Tenterfield Shire Council continues to suffer fallout from its heavy-handed implementation of a mandatory kerbside wheelie-bin rubbish collection along Mt Lindsay Highway, with Legume residents also registering their protest through petitions handed to council last Thursday.
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Legume farmer Glen Lamb handed over a stack of 46 signed petitions, and said more had been sent directly to council. His main concern was the way in which the matter has been handled.
“There has been no consultation,” he said.
“I was at the waste transfer station consultation meeting and the opening, and one person asked if there were any other options (to the waste transfer station), and they were told anything else would be too costly. The costings will be wrong on this, too.
“Council received grant money from the EPA (Environment Protection Authority) to set up the transfer station, and it’s working well. I’d be lucky to fill one wheelie bin a month after recycling’s taken out. That has to go to the transfer station anyway so we take the general rubbish at the same time and pay the fee. It’s made everyone more conscious of recycling.
“People have said to me if they have to pay for rubbish collection, stuff recycling they’ll put it all in one bin.
“Councillors were elected by the people. This has not been done the right way.”
Mr Lamb said the issue should be revisited.
“They need to have a look at what people want, and re-evaluate the costings.”
He’s also concerned about the rush to start the 12-month trial.
“There was all the expense of sending out letters telling people what was happening and asking them what size wheelie bin they wanted. They could have included that with the first rates notice and started six months later.
“The current system is working OK, and the waste transfer station will still have to be there for bulk waste like wire anyway.”
Council’s new general manager Damien Connor has come in after the council resolution to provide the mandatory rubbish collection and the later rejection of the rescission motion, and said his staff now have a legal obligation to enact the resolution.
He said he will be undertaking a review of community engagement protocols as would inevitably happen under a new general manager anyway, to ensure consultation takes place at appropriate times.
“Our desire is to be a well-engaged council,” he said.
“It’s difficult to make comment, not being here when it happened, but considering the number of people we’ve heard from, we could have done more and our engagement could have been better.”
