Rous County Council Chair Keith Williams. Photo David Lowe.
Since the Dunoon Dam was shelved, Rous County Council has put a new draft of the Future Water Project 2060 on public exhibition. They are currently seeking feedback from people living in the four constituent councils of Richmond Valley, Byron, Ballina and Lismore.
In part two of this two part series,
The Echo sat down with Rous Chair Keith Williams to dig into the detail, and address some of the controversy around the future of water in the Northern Rivers.
Your opponents are currently attacking recycled water using quite inflammatory language. Is this damaging the prospects of success of projects like Perradenya, which some of these people have previously publicly supported?
Getting excited about Compost Week 2021. Ballina Shire Council.
This year, International Compost Awareness Week runs from 2–8 May with the theme ‘Better Soil, Better Life, Better Future’.
The week aims to improve awareness on the importance of the role of compost as a valuable resource and to promote compost use, knowledge and products.
To celebrate, Ballina Shire Council has partnered with North East Waste, Ballina Community Garden and The Story Tree to curate a wonderful morning of free activities for all ages on Sunday 2 May from 9.30am to midday.
The morning will be held at the abundant Ballina Community Garden on the corner of Swift and Clarence Streets in Ballina. It will feature engaging compost workshops that welcome questions and the sharing of ideas. Families will also be able to make their own plastic-free beeswax wraps and listen to award-winning storyteller Jenni Cargill-Strong.
Ballina Shire Council. Photo David Lowe.
Ballina Shire councillors managed to cover a lot of territory at their last meeting, which finished before a very late lunch.
Farmers market expansion
An expansion request for Ballina Farmers Market was approved at Commemoration Park, in spite of councillors expressing some concerns about parking. Following will be a DA, likely to request a doubling of the market size to sixty stalls. Ballina Deputy Mayor Sharon Cadwallader. Photo David Lowe.
Deputy Mayor Sharon Cadwallader said, ‘When you’ve got something like this the community is really responding to, I am very happy to support.’ Cr Eoin Johnston opposed the motion, but was overruled.
Could paid parking be on the cards for Lennox Head?
Yesterday’s Ballina Shire Council meeting saw councillors raise the spectre of paid parking at Lennox Head, and possibly elsewhere in the shire.
During a discussion about fees and charges, Cr Nathan Willis began musing on the lack of prospective earnings for the future, despite all the extra ratepayers flooding into Ballina and surrounds. Was it time to consider a report looking at the possibility pay parking in Lennox Head, he wondered?
After a few nervous moments, Cr Eoin Johnston said he would second this. ‘Very brave!’ responded Mayor David Wright.
Michael McFarlane from Huskee outside Seed and Husk in Lennox Head. Photo David Lowe.
An exciting initiative to keep coffee cups out of landfill launched in Lennox Head yesterday. Ballina Shire Council is backing the HuskeeSwap program with free coffees at different cafes in Lennox this week, for coffeeholics keen to try a new solution to a growing problem.
Ballina’s Waste Education Officer Samala Heart told
The Echo, ‘Today kickstarts our HuskeeSwap launch week. Council is paying for free coffee for the first fifty coffees for each cafe which is participating in the HuskeeSwap program.
‘We have five cafes on board so far, and what that means is people can either purchase or use their existing Huskee cup, and continue to swap it at any of the participating cafes,’ she said.