Susanna Freymark
Here is a summary of the Richmond Valley Council October meeting.
Flood recovery needs to be bespoke
Councillor Robert Hayes spoke about the impact the buyback scheme was having on Woodburn’s flood recovery. Read that story here.
Read about the end of the flood corporation here.
What’s to come in the job precinct?
The Regional Job Precinct draft masterplan will be released to the pubic in mid-November. Will it include plans for an incinerator? Read more about that here.
What is council doing on NRLX’s future?
Read here about council’s latest move on the saleyards.
Let’s build a cul-de-sac
Council is doing road upgrades in Foy Street, Country Lane and Kent Street in Casino to improve road access and drainage. Council aims to acquire part of the property at 6 Foy Street to construct a cul-de-sac with an enlarged turning circle.
Read more about the land acquisition here.
New bridges times two
The two bridges traversing Shannon Brook and Spring Creek on the Casino Coraki Road (known as twin Tatham Bridges) require replacement. After the 2022 floods, a load restriction was placed on the bridges because of their poor structural condition.
Council has secured $18.7million through the Northern Rivers Recovery and Resilience Program to replace the bridges.
The design includes a series of land acquisitions for the existing road footprint and the new alignment. Read more about that here.
And more on roads – the massive project of the Coraki to Woodburn Road
The Woodburn-Casino Road has 1800 vehicles daily, with trucks accounting for 20% of the traffic.
The road is used by forestry, the Broadwater Sugar Mill and farms.
The council received $10million which was spent over three years to upgrade the Coraki to Woodburn section.
The council went with a different construction method for the works, changing to an unbound pavement to ensure the upgraded road would be more resilient.
Total cost of the project was $10million or $948,000 a kilometre.
In June last year, Jack McFadden urged the council to fix what is commonly known as ‘the dip’ on the Coraki to Woodburn section. This has been done in these latest repairs.
The Casino to Coraki section of the road was not as damaged by the floods as the Coraki to Woodburn section except for near Tatham where the bridges are being replaced.
Staying safe while rock fishing
In 2016, the council opted in to the Rock Fishing Safety Act which included an education period for the public on rock fishing.
There are 13 deaths a year in Australia from rock fishing. NSW accounts for 11 of those fatalities.
Some of the contributing factors to those deaths included failure to wear a life jacket and lack of risk awareness around rock fishing. Nine local government areas in NSW have opted in to the rock fishing safety legislation, including Ballina Council.
A request to hold a Beach Safety Hub fishing safety workshop in Richmond Valley has been submitted to Surf Life Saving NSW.
Things are going swimmingly at the pool
Stage 1 of the Casino Memorial Pool works were officially opened on Saturday, 23 September 23 and celebrated with a free family fun day.
Council continues to seek funding for Stage 2 and 3 works that will include:
• A new steel framed pool hall with a 25m heated multi-purpose pool, family change room, adult change room and plant room.
• Refurbishment of the facility entrance, control area, kiosk, administration, first aid and staff facilities.
• Refurbishment of the gymnasium including the creation of a swim squad room.
• A new swimming club building and contractor storage area.
• Firefighting infrastructure.
• Formalised car parking.
• a 12m high twin-flume water slide.
and then