Residents urged to make submissions on The Mac

Mr Bennett said although the development application would be determined by a Joint Regional Planning Panel (JRPP), residents’ submission would be incorporated in the Mid-Western Regional Council’s submission.

Group manager of development and community services Catherine van Laeren said although Mid-Western Regional Council had ruled that projects such as The Mac Gulgong would be prohibited on the Cope Road site, residents should not consider the development application to be “just academic”. Council’s definition of the project was open to challenge and this would be up to the JRPP to determine, she said.

If you think it will be good for the town, well and good.

Cr Kennedy also encouraged residents to make a submission, whether for or against.

“If you think it will be good for the town, well and good,” he said.

But Cr Kennedy said after visiting Narrabri, where The Mac already has a bed accommodation village, and speaking to members of Isaac Regopma Council in Queensland, where the permanent population of 23,000 people is outnumbered by 28,000 Fly-In-Fly-Out (FIFO) workers living in temporary accommodation, he believed Mid-Western Region did not need The Mac Gulgong.

Cr Kennedy said the standard of services at The Mac’s Narrabri village meant workers had no reason to spend their money in the town, while in Isac, the large temporary workforce put local roads and services under stress.

“We need to build this town with houses, not caravan parks on the edge of town,” he said.

The Mac Gulgong DA is available at Mid-Western Regional Council’s Customer Service Centres in Gulgong, Mudgee and Rylstone and libraries in Gulgong, Kandos and Mudgee. Enquiries about the exhibition can be made at Customer Service Centres or by calling 02 6378 2850 or 1300 765 002.

Written submissions should be posted to the General Manager, Mid-Western Regional Council, PO Box 156, Mudgee NSW 2850.

Submissions will be accepted until March 16, 2012.