Mandalong Community Association
President’s Annual report 2013-14
September 2014
Welcome and thanks
I want to start by thanking Margrete (Margreeta) and Pip for their hospitality. I also want acknowledge and pay respect to the ancestors of the Awabical Nation, the traditional custodians of this Country whose land we enjoy and live and work on.
General Acknowledgements
During the year, your committee comprising Leonie Sweeney, Mandy Allen, Mick Astles and Col Burzacott and I have worked on a range of issues and I want to start by thanking each of them for their hard work. This has been a great team to work with, each making their own contribution.
I want to start by thanking Leonie, as the association’s secretary Leonie has put in a great effort, Leonie is extremely well organised and she helps the rest of us get our work done. Leonie works consistently and quietly at our communications, she keeps the team on task. She is the glue that holds our team together.
During the past year Leonie has put in a special effort in redesigning and developing the structure and new content for our web site. The actual work of building the site was done by Jacob Astles, Mick and Angie’s son and we thank him for his excellent service. Leonie has also worked with Margrete in further developing the two proposed projects that we will discuss late this morning.
I would like to thank Mandy and Mick who have co-chaired the mining subcommittee. I would like to especially acknowledge Mandy’s contribution over several years, Mandy has resigned from the executive after being a key member of our team and she wants to focus on other projects and we wish her well with those..
Mandy will still be involved with a major project she has underway on fireweed control and you will hear about that from her in the general meeting. Col as our treasurer looks after the finances.
The book club has been active meeting monthly in the past year; thank you to Joan Satchwell for keeping it on track. The film club has been has been meeting most months with organisation from Leonie Sweeney and the hospitality of Sheila and David, our sincere thanks to all of them.
Mining Progress Report
As I mentioned the mining subcommittee has being co-chaired by Mandy Allen and Mick Astles. Mandy will shortly report on its activities. In recent years subsidence predictions have been reasonably accurate and the factors that cause damage to buildings and manmade structures which are tilt and strain have generally been below Centennial Mandalong’s predictions and well within the Safe Serviceable and Repairable limits set by government regulation. In the past 12 months there has been one instance of a house being affected beyond these limits, this is a recent case in Browns Road and I understand negotiations are nearing completion regarding the purchase of that property by Centennial.
The negotiations with the community regarding the Mandalong South Extension project have gone slowly. The activities in the valley will be limited to supplying air and materials (fuel and gravel. People and equipment will access the mine from the existing pithead.
The EIS for this extension was made public in September 2013 and many community members and the association put in written submissions before the December 2013 deadline. We acknowledge the support that the EDO gave the association especially in relation to water issues.
Centennial has responded to submissions and currently Planning NSW is responding both to the submissions and to Centennial’s responses to them. Planning NSW is also preparing the draft conditions of consent for the consideration of the Planning and Assessment Commission (PAC). It is anticipated that the PAC will meet in late October at the earliest and all parties who made written submissions to the EIS will have the opportunity to give an oral presentation to the PAC, 5 minutes for individuals and15 minutes for the Association.
A working group from the community met a month ago to start coordinating our submissions to the PAC and we are focussing on four issues:
- Noise during construction and operations
- Traffic in the valley
- Flooding in the valley
- Soil erosion and acid sulphate soil issues.
While water quality coming out of the mine at Cooranbong was a focus in our responses to the EIS, we have observed that the NSW Government departments are dealing with this issue in a comprehensive manner and we have decided to leave it up to them.
Methane drainage and the treatment of fugitive methane will continue to be back to the current pithead where the equipment for flaring has been commissioned and the experimental VAM RAB process to convert the fugitive methane to Carbon Dioxide has also been commissioned. We understand that the design of the methane flaring equipment at the pit head is designed to permit the generation of electricity at a later stage.
In the past year our main achievements have been:
- A significant improvement in Centennials attention to land management, there is now a process in place which allows us to see the plan and Centennials progress in achieving it
- A significant and continuing improvement in the conduct of CCC meetings, with greater focus on our issues.
- A significant response to the EIS for Mandalong South
- Negotiations with Centennial regarding the achievement of our development objectives for the valley.
Development Proposals
MCA has been seeking assistance from Centennial for a number of projects over the past few years, Mandalong Park, upgrade of local private/public roads, extension of the lake cycle way to the proposed park, a track alongside Mandalong Road as it winds up the valley to offset the effect of increased traffic with the Mandalong South extension on local cycling and hose riding traffic.
Since our March meeting we have been negotiating with centennial regarding a contribution to the community. My letter to Andrew Myors, the regional operations manager was circulated some 6 weeks ago. We expect a further response from Centennial this week and I will be tabling it for discussion at the AGM.
Marton Marosszeky
3 September 2014
