Macedon Ranges urged to act

Midland Express
Tuesday 18/12/2007 Page: 5

The question of Wind Farms will be reconsidered for Macedon Ranges if a motion to go before tomorrow night's Council meeting finds support. Cr John Letchford intends to put up a motion to return the Wind Farm Policy to the next meeting of the Shire's Environment Advisory Committee for review, with any recommendations to come back to council by April 2008.

He attended a recent Australian Local Government Association conference on Climate Change and said the message from that gathering is loud and clear. "Councils were advised that the situation is worse than is generally thought to be," he said. "A key point which emerged from the conference is the need to act now. The cost of inaction, the 'do nothing' approach,' is that the situation will get worse," he said.

Cr Letchford is disappointed with what he describes as a 'softening' of emission targets last week at the Climate Change conference in Bali. He believes local government can show leadership on this issue and would like to see a co-operative effort between Macedon Ranges, Mount Alexander and Greater Bendigo councils to work for efficiencies between themselves and to push for action (and seek funding) from other levels of government.

"It would be really nice to have all of us driving this issue. We are close to Melbourne, we could have a working partnership along the Calder corridor - an active alliance between Macedon Ranges, Mount Alexander and Bendigo." Co-operation about waste management already has taken place. "There is an existing partnership which can grow," Cr Letchford said.

Cr Letchford said Macedon Ranges once held a leading position in dealing with climate change, but believes it has now fallen behind others in this aspect of government. "My determination is to make Macedon Ranges a leader again," he said. Cr Letchford sees wind farms as one renewable energy and cost efficient option which should be explored for Macedon Ranges.

Re believes that while there is a real sense of urgency for change, and in part thinks this can be achieved through education about what individuals can do. Re wants council to revisit the shire's environmental policies of the past and introduce a higher education component for the community. Establishment of an Innovation Committee early next year to identify problems and find solutions, is another initiative he would like to see happen.

"Macedon Ranges is ideally located to be a showcase of what can be done," he said. "Our community is environmentally aware and is really demanding we do something proactive. They have always supported our initiatives and have a really positive enthusiasm about this area." A further initiative Cr Letchford would like to implement relates to the demise of the present CDMA mobile phone system at the end of January. This aim is for council to establish recycling points where people can dispose of their old phones, parts of which can be reused.