Draft Central West/Orana Regional Plan

Draft Central West/Orana Regional Plan

SUBMISSION GUIDE

The NSW Government is seeking feedback on its Draft Central West & OranaRegional Plan. The draft Plan covers local governmentareas in the Central West and Orana Region, including Lachlan, Forbes, Weddin, Cowra, Blayney, Bathurst, Oberon, Lithgow, Mid-Western Regional, Orange, Cabonne, Parkes, Dubbo, Wellington, Warrumbungle, Coonamble, Gilgandra, Narromine, Warren and Bogan.

The Draft Central West & Orana Regional Plan will underpin planning and environment decisions in the region over the next 15-20 years. Now is your chance to identify the long-term environment and conservation needs in the region.

Have your say on the way your region will grow in the future, on issues such as:

vegetation and habitat loss,
biodiversity loss,
air pollution and water pollution,
overuse of water resources,
climate change,
environmentally sensitive areas,
mining and coal seam gas,
agriculture,
waste management,
transport,
urban sprawl, and
green industry.

More information is available on the Government’s website:

Submissions close onMonday 4th July 2016
Online
Lodge your submission online at:

Mail
Post your submission to Director Regions, Central West & Orana, PO Box 58, Dubbo NSW 2850

This guide is intended to assist our members and supporters to engage in the strategic regional planning process and consider the key environmental issues relevant to their local area.

You can use the suggestions in this guide to write your own submission. Remember, it is often better to personalise your submission – you are encouraged to use your own words as much as possible and include your own local experiences and own concerns.

For further information contact the Nature Conservation Council of New South Wales on or (02) 9516 1488.

Suggested talking points

Failure to provide adequate protection for the environment

Although the draft Plan identifies areas of high environmental value (Figure 17: Environment, p 66/67), it does not provide adequate protection for those areas (e.g. no-go zones and/or clear restrictions on impacting development). Central West NSW is one of the most heavily impacted regions in Australia, with much of the landscape impacted from broad-scale clearing. All remnant vegetation has environmental significance. The Plan must clearly outline mechanisms for protecting or enhancing these areas of high environmental value.

Failure to resolve land use conflicts

The draft Plan identifies a range of land use values including areas of high environmental value and drinking water catchments (Figure 17: Environment, p 66/67); Primary Industries, including Biophysical Strategic Agricultural Land and Timber Production and Forestry (Figure 12: Resources, p46/47); and identified and potential mineral resources (Figure 13: Current coal mining activities and exploration areas, 52-53, Figure 14: Current Petroleum Exploration Titles, p54/55 and Figure 15: Mineral Resource Titles, p56/57). However the draft Plan fails to resolve conflicts between these various uses and defers important strategic planning and impact management to a later stage.

Failure to link catchment management planning and natural resource management

The draft Plan fails to adequately integrate catchment management planning. It makes no reference to existing Catchment Action Plans or the goals and objectives within those plans.

Coal mining

The draft Plan identifies coal mining as an ongoing priority industry for the region. In light of the unequivocal evidence that the burning of coal contributes to anthropogenic climate change, a significant decline in thermal coal prices, and international agreement to keep global average temperatures to below 2 degrees Celsius, it is irresponsible to continue to identify the coal industry as a priority industry. There needs to be greater emphasis on transitioning away from fossil fuels.

Further, data relied on in the draft Plan, including gross regional product and regional employment figures, is for the period 2006-2011, and therefore outdated. In light of a more recent downturn in export thermal coal prices and job losses across the industry, these figures are inaccurate and should not be used as a basis for future planning in the region.

Do you have a case study?
Coal mining can have a significant impact on the environment and communities. If your local environment or local community are being impacted by coal mining activities, you could highlight your experience in your submission.

Water Resources and Drinking Water Catchments

The availability of water resources is a major constraint to growth in the region, and more strategic work is required to develop water efficiency initiatives for this region. Urban and mining growth must be made more water efficient through less water use and more water reuse.

The draft Plan also fails to provide adequate protection for the region’s drinking water catchments. In particular, coal seam gas and long wall coal mining activities should be banned in those parts of the region that form part of the Sydney Drinking Water Catchment and Special Areas.

Coal seam gas (CSG) exploration and extraction:

There is significant community concern in NSW regarding the environmental and health impacts of coal seam gas. The draft regional plan identifies potential resource areas (Figure 14, p54). While the areas where the NSW government has bought back CSG exploration titles should be acknowledged, much larger areas shown on the map are still subject to Petroleum Exploration Titles. In the future, these areas shown could generate the sort of problems associated with CSG exploration activities that have been experienced by communities elsewhere in NSW, such as the NSW North Coast, Gloucester, Pilliga and Camden areas.

Do you have a case study?
The draft regional plan claims that, while coal seam gas extraction has the capacity to affect water supply, security and infrastructure, these risks can be managed in the current regulatory environment. NCC encourages community groups to provide evidence in their submissions where water supply, security and infrastructure have been damaged by CSG exploration activities in spite of the current regulatory environment.

Preservation of Travelling Stock Reserve Network

Travelling stock routes and reserves contain important remnants of woodland vegetation in the otherwise highly cleared wheat and sheep farming belt of NSW. Often, these remnants are the best examples of ecosystems and communities that are not well represented in the National Parks estate. The TSR network also contains many Aboriginal sites.

We welcome the draft plan’s acknowledgement of the high biodiversity and Aboriginal cultural heritage values of many travelling stock reserves (TSR’s), and recognition that these lands need to be protected from the encroachment of incompatible uses. Further information is needed as to how this is going to be achieved.

Climate Change

It is pleasing to see the draft Plan acknowledge the predicted impacts of climate change for the region (p 69) and include a key principle of addressing the implications of a changing climate and build resilience to natural hazards (p9). That said, it is imperative that ongoing implementation of the Plan provides clear opportunities and action for addressing climate change impacts.

Renewable Energy

The expansion of renewable energy projects in the region is supported. While the draft Plan recognises existing renewable energy assets, there needs to be a clear strategy for supporting the expansion of renewable energy project in the region into the future.

Gardens of Stone

The draft Plan does not recognise the important environmental and social values of the Gardens of Stone. The area pertaining to the Gardens of Stone Stage 2 reserve proposal is not recognised in the mapping of high environmental value. The draft regional plan also does not show on Figure 17 the nationally listed upland swamps on sandstone on Newnes Plateau. Last year the Advisory Committee for the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area recognised that the Gardens of Stone region had world heritage value. The potential of the Gardens of Stone Stage 2 reserve proposal for low-impact, nature-based recreation and tourism should be considered for inclusion in the final Plan. It is well past time this area was protected.

Implementation of the Draft Plan

The delivery of the final Plan will be by the Coordinating and Monitoring Committee, made of Government and local council representatives from the Joint Organisations and Regional Organisations of Councils. The proposed committee is heavily weighted with NSW Government representatives.

In order to provide improved links with agricultural and natural resource management objectives, representatives from the relevant Local Land Services should also be included on the Coordinating and Monitoring Committee.

Consideration should also be given to community input into the implementation of the plan. For example, Illawarra Environment and Resources Groups have been identified as relevant supporting groups under the Illawarra-Shoalhaven Regional Plan.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND RESOURCES

NCC MEMBER GROUPS IN THE CENTRAL WEST AND ORANA REGION:

Bathurst Community Climate Action Network Inc.

Capertee Valley Alliance Inc.

(02) 6379 7767

Central West Environment Council Inc.

(02) 6373 4330

Dubbo Field Naturalist & Conservation Society Inc

(02) 6887 2692

ECCO (Environmentally Concerned Citizens of Orange)

Friends of the Pilliga

(02) 6842 4873

/ Lithgow Environment Group

Little River Landcare Group

(02) 6846 4569

Mudgee District Environment Group Inc

(02) 6373 4330

Orange Field Naturalist & Conservation Society

0428 719 645