BOMBALA’s livestock yards have narrowly escaped immediate closure due to safety concerns, but will be the subject of an urgent meeting between Snowy Monaro Regional Council and stakeholders.
The meeting will discuss strategies required for the saleyards to remain open long-term and avoid imminent closure of the facility.
Council’s CEO David Hogan had recommended to the March 21 monthly council meeting, held at Bombala, that access to the yards should be stopped as soon as possible based on the outcomes of a safety inspection of the yards, until such time as necessary improvements could be undertaken.
Mr Hogan further recommended Council advise the community it is willing to consider expressions of interest from any parties willing to take on and operate the facility based on the criteria that the lessee would need to make an investment into upgrading the facility.
However, Bombala based councillor and farmer, Bob Stewart, told the meeting an immediate closure would be 'devastating' for the rural community. Cr Stewart presented an alternate resolution, which after 1.5 hours of debate, most of it in committee, was passed.
Cr Stewart called for Council to invite key users of the facility to be engaged in a meeting in the following five business days from Thursday March 21 to work through a solution with saleyard users.
Cr Stewart expressed his disappointment that the recommendation to close the facility immediately had 'appeared all of a sudden at this meeting' and an expression of interest had not been followed-up.
“We have to take responsibility for how poorly this has been handled. You don’t realise the importance of the depot yards to the rural community,” Cr Stewart said at the Council meeting.
“It would be an injustice to close them down. People are responsible livestock people and dealing with these situations every day of their lives."
The 30-year-old saleyards on 5.8ha of land in Rosemeath Road, Bombala, are used as a livestock sale facility and holding yards.
The facility includes three holding paddocks, small pens, loading ramps, truckwash facilities, a truck parking area, public amenities, a large shed and a small shed.
Council had called for expressions of interest last year, seeking a lessee to maintain and present the livestock yards for all stakeholders to use for transportation of livestock, to upgrade the yards to the minimum standards necessary and to undertake ongoing maintenance.
In his report to Thursday’s meeting, Mr Hogan said only one submission had been received in response, and was only for part of the facility (three holding paddocks, multiple smaller pens, a loading ramp and truck parking) and did not include operational management and maintenance of the truckwash and other structures within the facility, such as amenities, ramps or some of the yards.
He said he was obligated by law to act on safety concerns about Council property, with Council and its officers possibly being liable if any incidents were reported after being made aware of safety issues.
He said in his report, based on the issues raised by users and the safety inspection, at least $150,000 would be required to be invested into the facility.
A full investigation and costing of the works against relevant standards is estimated to cost $20,000, which will be required to get a better picture of the true costs involved in accepting the EOI. Even at the minimum cost of $170,000, the return on investment based on the EOI provided is 45 years.”
He said a safety inspection had revealed trip hazards, lack of adequate fall protection and lack of evidence of an engineered compliant access point to viewing planks and platforms.
Snowy Monaro Deputy Mayor Tanya Higgins suggested a temporary closure might provide impetus to fix the problems. Cr Higgins expressed concern over liability for the facility.
Councillor Lynda Summers also suggested if the facility was closed it would be a way to draw users out of the woodwork to mitigate a solution
“I don’t think we should see the CEO liable,” Cr Summers said.
Councillor Narelle Davis told the meeting she had worked with Cr Stewart for two years, attending four onsite meetings but noting not one thing has happened.
“I was so disappointed to see this recommended which undoes all the work we have done,” she said.
“We can close the yards but that will not stop people using them. A lot of stock goes through each week. I don’t want to be critical of Council, but this has been so frustrating. I cannot accept we close the yards to address mitigation when we haven’t even informed the users that we have a major issue."
Mr Hogan said his recommendation was not intended to shut the facility down completely but was 'about making it safe'.
