$850 per megawatt back to community

Goulburn Post
Monday 16/4/2007 Page: 4

Lachlan Shire councillors on Thursday voted to levy monetary contributions from wind farm builders to fund its community enhancement program. Gathering for a planning committee meeting in Crookwell. councillors voted to levy an annual fee of $850 per megawatt per farm. While a levy payment was originally recommended to be $1000, it was pointed out at the meeting the NSW Department of Planning's own recommendation for such levies was $833.33 per megawatt. It was moved by Cr Garry Cosgrove and seconded by Cr Sandra Bill that the levy generally follow the State's recommendation and on the vote it was set at $850. indexed as at March 31. 2007.

Speaking after the meeting. Council's general manager John Bell said the payment would be linked to the life of the respective projects. "We think it is a fair community amount and the money gained would be spent in the general area of the respective wind farms." Mr Bell said. "Councillors thought that if we are going to have wind farms, then there should be some community benefits and we clearly already have the support of the Department of Planning on this matter." The spokesperson for the Friends of Crookwell, Humphrey Price-Jones, said the $850 levy would not placate people, particularly those directly affected by wind farms.

"This in no way pays for the damage done to individual farms or farmers. Rather, it will benefit ratepayers in general," Mr Price-Jones said. "What the council should be doing is opposing wind farms tooth and nail because none of them to date comply with its own control plan. "The State government seems to be acknowledging how communities have been given this enormous problem and wants to placate people by identifying a source of money." Mr Price-Jones pointed out no work had as yet started on Taralga. Crookwell 2. Walwa or Cullerin wind farms but "some people's lives have already been damaged by the stresses associated with them".

A spokesperson for RES Southern Cross, one of the companies wanting to build a wind farm in the shire, could not be reached for comment on the levy's fiscal practicalities.