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Wedderburn planning left in limbo
GREAT IN COURT TO SAVE KOALA HABITAT
GREAT FUND RAISER
Rifle Range in Hanging Swamp
After bulldozing an illegal track into a pristine area packed with endangered flora and fauna, the Illawarra shooters Club has withdrawn its development application for a rifle range in the Dharawal Reserve.
This withdrawal was the result of a legal challenge from the National Parks Association.
The site is in the ecologically sensitive Hanging Swamps area forming the head waters of the Georges river just beyond Wedderburn to the south. It comes under the jurisdiction of the Wollondilly Council
the club may reapply in the near future but hopefully its members are looking for an alternative site in a less sensitive area.
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July 1999
Campbelltown Councillors recently voted to suspend the committee which had been preparing documents for public discussion on a new LEP.
The committee included representatives from State Government Departments and staff from Campbelltown Council Planning Department.
The Council has suspended all work on a new LEP on the basis of a letter from a Wedderburn orchardist who wants to sub-divide.
The letter questions the NSW Dept. of Agriculture's view that agriculture in Wedderburn is viable.
The Council has now called for another private consultant's report on the economic viability of Wedderburn agriculture.
The Sweedman Report commissioned by the pro-development lobby in 1996 showed that agriculture in Wedderburn is viable as did an earlier report from the NSW Dept. of Agriculture.
The NSW Dept. of Planning refused LEP 127 for Wedderburn, and requested that Campbelltown Council consult with the community and State Government departments to redraft the plan to ensure that
agriculture was protected,
the population did not increase and
the environmental values are protected
The suspension of this committee is undermining former Planning Minister Craig Knowles' intention to preserve the environment and the agriculture of Wedderburn
Obviously the aim of the pro developers including a majority of Campbelltown Councillors is to establish that Wedderburn is not good for anything but subdivision.
Those of us (including a large number of local residents) who are aware of Wedderburn's environmental significance to the South West Sydney Region, are worried that inappropriate, possibly disastrous developments will be allowed during this delay while development applications continue to be processed under an obsolete LEP.
June 1999
Great won a favourable out of court settlement for a case before the Land and Environment Court. The case was prompted by the unauthorised clearing of two hectares of prime koala habitat.
The defendant was ordered to carry out restoration and control weeds. Campbelltown council was invited to join in the action but declined. We feel that this is indicative of Council's reluctance to seriously pursue environmental vandalism in the courts.
May 1999
On Sunday May 16 1999 GREAT held a fund raising lunch in Bundeena. A portfolio of etchings by Wedderburn artists was launched and completely sold out. We are very grateful to the hundred people who attended the lunch and to the numerous musicians entertainers and visual artists and chefs who made the day memorable. The event was to cover costs connected to the recent court case
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