A car wash application, road maintenance, concessional usage of The Crossing Theatre, and advocacy for better rural health services were some of the main items on the agenda at Monday’s ordinary council meeting, held at the new time of 5.30pm.

With some delay and hesitation, councillors unanimously voted in favour of a recommendation relating to the construction of a car wash facility on Fraser Street, Narrabri, subject to conditions of development consent.

Council received a development application for a new car wash ‘complete with automatic bay, self-serve bays, vacuum bays, dog wash and associated plant room’ at 84 Fraser Street.

The recommendation which passed council stated: “That Council determine DA 2024/0100 pursuant to Section 4.16 of the Environmental Planning & Assessment Act 1979 by the granting of consent subject to conditions, as detailed in Appendix A ‘Conditions of Development Consent – DA 2024/0100’.”

Council’s business paper states there was extensive fire damage to the premises at 84 Fraser Street on August 12, 2022.

“The dwelling house has been demolished and the site is presently vacant.”

Two community members expressed their opposition to the car wash development application at the start of the meeting – Jeremy Jones and Luke McDermott, with other residents present in the public gallery.

Mr Jones said he was the owner of the Aquarius car wash on Francis Street.

“From when we made the decision to takeover running it ourselves in July this year), we decided it was long overdue for a facelift, so we’ve invested pretty heavily,” said Mr Jones.

“It wasn’t until after we’d made the decision and got finance approved …that I heard there was another DA in for a new car wash.

“Trying to stop someone else from doing business is not really my thing but in this circumstance, I don’t believe the town is big enough to justify two and to be financially viable.

“Hence why I am opposing the DA and as I’ve said because we’ve put a fair bit of investment into it and we need to return a certain amount of money and make it viable for us, if we have another one that opens up that’s a similar size – I don’t think either will be viable.”

Fraser Street resident Luke McDermott also raised concerns in a presentation to councillors.

“I really think it’s in the wrong spot, it’s in the wrong part of town,” he said.

“There are houses all around it.

“There is noise modelling that has been submitted with the development although I don’t believe it’s been completed as thoroughly as it should have.

“It’s going to have a big impact on our quality of life within this part of town.

“There are no other noise generating developments along the highway in these residential areas in town currently.

“If it was on the opposite side of the road that backed onto the sporting fields, I wouldn’t have a problem because it would be not directly next to our houses.

“They have included some noise walls to try and reduce it, but they’ve also blatantly ignored the fact that the two properties directly next door are elevated,” said Mr McDermott.

“So, the noise walls are two and one-point-eight metres high but there’s no consideration for the properties who have elevated living.

Mr McDermott said he was also worried about the impact on local water supply.

“If you do approve this development today, I’d ask two considerations be put forward – one, that some noise recording be done after the development has been completed and in operation to show whether the modelling they’ve provided, within the development, is accurate and suitable. And I’d also like to see a dog wash as part of it.

“The fantastic work council has done over the past years with footpaths, particularly over the highway, I think the developer themselves would benefit from perhaps having pedestrian access into the wash as well.

“Obviously, I would prefer it if it wasn’t approved.”

When the time came for councillors to discuss and vote on the car wash recommendation Mayor Darrell Tiemens explained, “These development approvals go through an extensive process anyway, it is only in certain circumstances that those developments actually come to this council.

“And this was one of those circumstances.”

“The DA has been submitted to council for final determination as greater than six unique and individual submissions were received,” added director of planning and sustainability Donna Ausling.

“There was a range of submissions to the development, which outlined some concerns around a range of matters including property devaluation, competition considerations and noise.”

Ms Ausling provided an overview of the process and said planning law was ‘highly complex and regulated’.

“As presented in the report, planning staff have undertaken a detailed assessment of the proposal against the various applicable items of legislation and determined that the application should be approved subject to conditions of development consent.”

Ms Ausling added, “The proponent has provided satisfactory responses to the matters raised of concern.”

There was not an immediate response when Mayor Darrell Tiemens asked councillors who would like to move the motion, leading into discussion about the possibilities of delaying the vote to allow more time for briefing and training, especially for new councillors.

“It appears we are all very hesitant about moving and seconding this, can you please tell me where this goes if nobody moves or seconds this,” said Cr Amanda Brown.

“Every motion has to be moved and seconded,” said Cr Tiemens.

“There are financial implications of this, we could move it to a briefing session after we’ve had the development training and we’ve had a proper session around this but having said that the Land and Environment Court, the applicants have every right to take our council to court for delaying this application,” he said.

“Whether or not that happens is a completely different matter.”

Following further deliberations, Cr Greg Lamont moved the motion and Cr Brett Dickinson seconded it.

“I’m going to back the director who is the professional person in the room and I’m going to move that we go with your recommendation and approve the development,” said Cr Lamont.

The motion passed council unanimously.

Shire roads a key focus moving forward

Councillors wanted to make it clear the state of the shire’s roads would be a key focus moving forward.

A Notice of Motion, submitted by Cr Joshua Roberts-Garnsey, requesting that the interim general manager prepare and present a detailed report outlining the current backlog of road maintenance across the shire including all roads in need of repairs, upgrades, or resurfacing was supported unanimously at the meeting.

Cr Roberts-Garnsey was approved to attend the meeting via audio-visual link.

An addition to the motion was made by Cr Jansson receiving unanimous support to include information regarding outstanding flood funding, in the realm of $30 million for road repairs from different levels of government.

The report, which will be presented at a councillor workshop in November followed by the December council meeting, will include a list of priority roads which require works based on council’s current Rural Roads Hierarchy and funding required.

Applications for concessional use of The Crossing Theatre

The Crossing Theatre Concessional Use Policy was approved for applications submitted by Narrabri West Public School, St Joseph’s Primary School, and St Francis Xavier’s School.

NSC said The Crossing Theatre’s Concessional Use Policy is a great way for council to assist local charities, NFPs, community organisations, Section 355 Committees, and schools in utilising the wonderful facility that is The Crossing Theatre.

Health advocacy remains a major priority

Advocacy for the provision of health services locally remains a major priority for council with a submission to the Legislative Assembly Remote, Rural and Regional Health Portfolio Committee No.2 – Cross Jurisdictional Health Reforms being endorsed.

The submission highlights that Narrabri Shire community remains frustrated and dissatisfied with the lack of communication and consultation from NSW Health, and the primary health service delivery framework.

Also included in the submission are recommendations from council in relation to the 10-Year Rural and Remote Medical and Health Workforce Recruitment and Retention Strategy, a single employer model for GP trainees across New South Wales, Rural Area Community Controlled Health Organisation pilot, increasing rural GP and specialist training positions, regional cancer centres, and obstetric, midwifery and anaesthetic service provisions.

Mayor Darrell Tiemens said during the meeting he and deputy mayor Brett Dickinson would be meeting with the chief executive officer of Hunter New England Health in Newcastle next week.

“To get an update on the state of our hospitals in Narrabri Shire,” said Cr Tiemens.

“We gave them an extensive list of issues we have and potential solutions,” he said.

“We’ve got some serious issues…It’s absolutely critical Hunter New England Health respond in a meaningful way.”

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