Narrabri Shire Council to raise Inland Rail route concerns

Narrabri Shire Council will write to the NSW Minister for Planning Anthony Roberts, raising concerns about the proposed Inland Rail route at Narrabri.

Councillors voted on the matter at an extraordinary council meeting held on Tuesday afternoon, passing a recommendation that included asking “the Minister to take note of the concern that Inland Rail/ARTC, as requested, has not assessed the Narrabri Alternative Route (as proposed by Narrabri Inland Rail Concerned Residents Group)”.

“The alternate route proposal has been submitted by engineers, hydrologists and surveyors, and the broader Narrabri community members since March 2018.

“The Narrabri alternative route appears to save hundreds of millions of dollars and minimises flood impacts.

“This is supported by the WRM study commissioned by the Narrabri Inland Rail Concerned Residents Group.”

“Narrabri Shire Council, with the current route selection, is unfunded for significant connectivity costs for the proposed Inland Port and Special Activation Precinct (SAP).”

Councillors voted to include the wording in its draft submission to the NSW Department of Planning and Environment in response to the Exhibition of Preferred Infrastructure and Amendment Report for Inland Rail Narromine to Narrabri section.

Councillors praised the work of NSC staff members in putting the submission together in time for the September 22 deadline.

Mayor Ron Campbell was not present at the meeting, deputy mayor Cathy Redding was required to leave the room for debate and the vote because of a pecuniary interest, so Cr Greg Lamont was voted in chair, and Cr John Clements put the recommendation forward, seconded by Cr Rohan Boehm.

About 10 community members were in the public gallery for the extraordinary council meeting, where local engineer Jim Purcell gave a three-minute presentation and also answered questions, a permissible but uncommon occurrence.

Mr Purcell is part of the Narrabri Inland Rail Concerned Residents Group, which has proposed an alternative Narrabri route, voicing concerns about potential flood risks of the current alignment proposal, and has suggested the line be moved further west of town.

Mr Purcell is not against the Inland Rail project but has expressed his opinion about the benefits, including economic, of the alternative Narrabri route and, since 2018, has stated his opposition to the government’s preferred route, which would skirt around the western edges of Narrabri, passing over Wee Waa Road.

“The route is literally right up against the downstream side of Narrabri’s floodplain, so anything that you build downstream of a floodplain is going to impact flooding on a town,” said Mr Purcell.

Mr Purcell said the Narrabri Inland Rail Concerned Residents group believed their alternative route was ‘quicker to build, faster, flatter, easier and cheaper’.

“We are now at the pointy end of fixing Inland Rail,” Mr Purcell said during his presentation.

“This is a tough job … putting a new rail line through and close to people’s houses is a tough job,” he added.

“Unfortunately, the community and council’s concerns have been ignored – this has got to stop. This is ridiculous.

“We’ve had costings done, and they’re wasting $200 million.

“We’ve had a flood study done.

“The Narrabri alternative route must be assessed by Inland Rail – they’re out of excuses.

“They haven’t even looked at it.”

The report presented to council on Tuesday included a motion passed in April this year requiring NSC to write to the NSW Department of Planning and state that ‘council does not support the current proposed alignment as it does not provide an optimum outcome for the Narrabri Shire’.

This is a view also expressed in a letter from NSC to the NSW DPE on February 5, 2021.

Council did also state it ‘supports the concept of the Inland Rail and acknowledges the positive contributions and opportunities it will make to both the Narrabri Shire and the wider Australian community’.

However, concerns were raised at Tuesday’s meeting about whether ARTC had addressed NSW DPE’s request for more information about alternative alignments and flooding impacts, whether the alternative route being put forward by Narrabri Inland Rail Concerned Residents Group has been assessed, and the community consultation process.

“We’re disappointed that they didn’t respond to justify their preferred infrastructure,” said Cr Clements.

“There are social and economic reasons that this route is not a good idea. And it does have flood impacts.”

Concerns were also raised about a meeting councillors had with an ARTC Narromine to Narrabri project representative on Tuesday morning. Cr Brett Dickinson said the representative was made aware that the majority of councillors were definitely not happy with the route ARTC has proposed.

“But when we said we didn’t like the idea … and asked who he was going to advise … he skirted around it and didn’t answer our questions on three occasions.”

An Australian Rail Track Corporation spokesperson said over the past 16 years, the Narromine to Narrabri (N2N) route has undergone rigorous and extensive analysis, and ARTC is confident the currently preferred alignment is the optimal option.

“The N2N project has just concluded a public exhibition period of a preferred infrastructure report, which included information on the design of the project and considered alternative alignments,” the spokesperson said.

“This includes consideration of options near Narrabri and the justification for the preferred alignment that has been selected.

“Through this public exhibition period, we also expect new submissions to be received by the NSW government, Department of Planning and Environment, and we will take those submissions into consideration and provide a response in due course as part of the Environmental Impact Statement process.

“ARTC Inland Rail’s consultation with Narrabri Shire Council is ongoing relating to a range of matters, and we will continue to engage with council to ensure the best possible outcomes for the community and the project.

“Projects that are the size and complexity of Inland Rail always have challenges, and we will continue to work with the Department of Planning and Environment, the community and council as we follow the approvals process to resolve issues where they arise.”