Seascape Grove and Adventure Park developments move forward

Published on 19 July 2022

July's meeting was the last of this Council term before the upcoming by-election. At the meeting, Councillors decided on items including plans for the Seascape Grove subdivision in South West Rocks, the Macleay Valley Recreation Adventure Park, creating a sustainable road network and cemetery reservation fees.

Disputing the inclusion of RFS Red Fleet in Council's financial statements

Kempsey Shire Mayor Leo Hauville included a mayoral minute about the need for change in the way the RFS Red Fleet is reflected in Council's financial statements.

The Mayor spoke against the position of the NSW Government that rural and regional councils should recognise the NSW Rural Fire Service Red Fleet assets in their financial statements.

Including the NSW Rural Fire Service's Red Fleet assets in Council's financials affects its financial position. Council does not want to risk ratepayers having to cover a service that is controlled by the NSW Government and objects to the determination. 

Council will advocate alongside other councils to dispute the inclusion of the Red Fleet in financial statements. NSW Rural Fire Service brigades do amazing work and help protect communities in times of enormous distress, and passing this objection will not remove any funding for the NSW Rural Fire Service. 

Council supports Kempsey Shire's NSW Rural Fire Service and volunteers and each year pays the emergency services levy to fund local services like this, including ambulance services and the NSW State Emergency Service.

Seascape Grove subdivision at South West Rocks progresses

Councillors discussed the progression of a planning proposal of DP1270842 Lot 801 Rosedale Avenue at South West Rocks, which forms part of the residential subdivision Seascape Grove Estate.

Under the current Kempsey Local Environmental Plan, the lot next to this parcel of land is mostly zoned as R1 General Residential while lot 801 is mostly a C3 Environmental Management zone. Council agreed to make changes to the Kempsey Local Environmental Plan to allow the boundary for Lot 801 Rosedale Avenue to be realigned to R1 General Residential relative to the geographical landscape.

Council also agreed to:

• obtain legal advice on the planning proposal from the Parliamentary Counsel's office
• authorise the General Manager to allow changes to the Kempsey Local Environmental Plan
• publish the recommended changes on the NSW Government's legislation website.

Macleay Valley Recreation Adventure Park moves forward

Councillors reviewed agency responses and agreed that the current Kempsey Local Environmental Plan should be amended to allow the planning proposal for the Macleay Valley Recreation Adventure Park to move to the next stage.

The changes to the Kempsey Local Environmental Plan mean that part of the land at Kempsey Airport can be developed for indoor recreation and tourist and visitor accommodation (including serviced apartments, hotel and motel accommodation and backpacker accommodation).

The necessity to amend the Local Environmental Plan was identified through consultant experts in adventure sports and agency responses. In order to include the indoor rock climbing wall and the piloting pond, the building would need to be on the other side of the runway, rather than the location of the current terminal. 

New cemetery and burials fees to be placed on public exhibition

Council agreed to place a corrected cemeteries and burial fee structure on public exhibition for 28 days. Following the exhibition period, the new fees will be presented to Council for adoption at a future meeting.

Over the past 12 months, Council has set a new strategic direction for cemeteries in Kempsey Shire. As part of this, cemetery reservation and burial fees were restructured, with the site development and perpetual maintenance costs now charged at the time of reservation rather than at the time of burial, as was previously the case.

When Council's full set of 2022-23 Fees and Charges were adopted at the June 2022 meeting, they included an omission where the cemeteries and burial fees did not clearly reflect the new strategy.

In the 2022-23 Fees and Charges, the reservation fee increased from $744 to $2,100 and the burial fee reduced from $3,235 to $2,000. 

This new fee structure is still applicable for reservations made on or after 1 July 2022.

However, if this structure was applied to reservations made prior to 1 July 2022, then Council would face a financial loss of $1,235 per burial, as the existing reservations were charged the lower initial fee and would now also pay a lower burial fee.

As such the following new fee structure is being exhibited:

Maintaining a sustainable road network

Council voted unanimously to support a statement made at the 2022 NSW Local Roads Conference highlighting the impact the increasing number of natural disasters, COVID-19 and skill shortages have on maintaining local road networks. 

The NSW Local Roads Conference focuses on discussing road-related issues, with this year's topics including:

• grant funding and a skilled workforce are paramount to councils delivering an effective and safe local road network in these difficult times
• the evidence indicating that fixing roads reduces the cost of goods to the freight industry, which, in turn, can impact small businesses in regional communities
• the Fixing Country Bridges Program is a great initiative but there is work to do to have sustainable and resilient local bridges
• the challenges in addressing skill shortages and if the right policies are being created to close this gap.

Council also agreed to maintain the Kempsey Shire road network to the best standard it can under the financial constraints.

Development activity in the shire between April and June 2022

Each quarter, development activity and any planning approvals that include changes to the Kempsey Local Environmental Plan are reported to Council. This report includes the number of development applications determined, their approximate value and the number of dwellings approved.

Council received and noted the following Quarterly Development Activity Statistics and Local Environmental Plan Variations report for the fourth quarter of the 2021-2022 financial year.

The development activity from the April to June 2022 quarter is as follows:

Addressing healthcare outcomes

Councillors received and noted the Delegate's Report from the Rural Health Forum.

The report outlined issues discussed at the forum, including:

• The sickest people live in the most remote communities.
• The crucial need is for GPs in rural areas, but there are fewer going to rural areas.
• Talented doctors are being poached by cities and overseas countries.

Council will be addressing these issues to see what can be improved at a local level.

Addressing national issues impacting local government areas

Council received and noted a Delegates Report from the National General Assembly of Local Government 2022.

The National General Assembly is hosted by the Australian Local Government Association and is an opportunity to address national issues impacting local government areas.

Statement of cash and investments - July 2022

Council noted the July statement.

Order of Business considered in open session

9.1 Planning Proposal PP-2021-7403 - Rosedale Avenue, South West Rocks

9.2 Planning Proposal PP-2022-529 - Facilitate the Macleay Valley Recreation Adventure Park

9.3 Cemetery Fees and Charges – Reservations

9.4 New South Wales Local Roads Conference Communique 2022

9.5 Quarterly Development Activity Statistics & LEP Variations – 4th Quarter – 2021-2022

9.6 Business not included in the Agenda

9.7 Statement of Cash and Investments – June 2022

More information

The July Ordinary Council meeting was held in Council Chambers from 9am on Tuesday 19 July.

A video of the entire meeting can be viewed on Council's YouTube page and on the Kempsey Shire Council website.

For a full outline of the meeting and the discussion points, please refer to the Agenda and Business Papers.