Banora Point drain “not good enough” says local as council candidate hears concerns
BANORA POINT resident John Sydneham is this month calling on the Tweed Shire Council to keep their promise and commence a “desperately needed clean up” of the Banora Point Western Drainage Scheme.
MrSydneham first made an appeal for council to clean up the drain in The Weekly late last year, but was told by council planners a window to enter the waterway would not open until August 2016, due to Comb-crested Jacana nesting.
“Council told me they were coming down in August to start some clean up works of some of the over grown weeds and overgrowth building up in the system,” he said.
MrSydneham recently invited Tweed Shire Council candidate Chris Cherry to inspect the drain as well as expressing his concerns for the future of the waterway.
“Council has advised they have an annual maintenance program of weed removal that is limited by the nesting period of the vulnerable Comb- crested Jacana,” Ms Cherry said.
“We applaud this type of facilitation of our endangered species, but this information means that Council now only has September and October to act on this issue before the new nesting period, so let’s hope we see them out there, during this period, working to bring the canal back to its former glory.
“I know Banora Point is a long way from home for me (Pottsville), but it is another issue where a community feel they are not being heard and that is why I am standing up for them.”
Ms Cherry said council needed to be responsible when planning developments, particularly ones that involve artificial canals to build in a maintenance program, that can be sustained with funding over the years.
“The canal is a community asset, it was developed as an integral part of this housing development,” she said.
“A management plan, and a way of funding that plan should be prioritised at the time of approval. It’s a lesson for all incoming councillors. We need to work out a way to restore the canal to a level of health and amenity it was before, so the Banora Point community can enjoy their local environment again.”