Earth First would like to offer congratulations to those newly-elected councillors who will be serving the Orange community for the first time. We would also like to congratulate and welcome back those who have been on council before.
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We have on our new council a mixture of new blood and experience, which augers well for a productive and successful local government future for Orange.
One of the first tests for our new council will be how it handles the issue of the controversial proposed Spring Hill airport industrial park.
A significant number of councillors made it clear during their campaigns that they were opposed to the idea of an industrial complex in the designated area because of concerns about inappropriate use of prime agricultural land and the potential for water contamination if the development were to proceed.
There are also councillors who were enthusiastic supporters of the proposed park on the grounds of its potential for job creation and its potential to attract businesses to Orange. It is anticipated that the new council will be split 50-50 on the issue. The challenge is how it will be resolved.
The situation could be handled by a vote which would result in a win-lose scenario with either environmental advocates or those promoting commercial benefit emerging triumphant. This would be unfortunate.
Instead it is hoped that our new council can, through informed debate, come to a consensus on the issue that protects the environment and advances Orange economically.
Such a result would indicate that our new council has the ability and professional skills to develop workable solutions that have bipartisan support
If our council is successful in achieving consensus on the industrial park, those of us who have concerns about the environment will be reassured that our councillors will have both the capacity and will to consider both the environmental as well as the economic bottom line when it comes to making important decisions.
Issues like water management, subdivision design, development applications, Crown land management, public green space, energy and others will need to be considered.
Because the Spring Hill industrial park was such an important election issue, it is expected that it will be placed on council's agenda for debate at the earliest possible opportunity.
How the debate is conducted will be a litmus test for our new council.
We hope that council's management of the topic and the result obtained will inspire us with confidence that future challenges will be similarly negotiated.
