Mullumbimby Action Group -> latestnews -> wwslake

woolworths lake and berlin wall

When it come to compliance in the Byron Shire there is one rule for the big boys and another for the punters.
 For months now Woolworth’s construction site’s minimal to non existent erosion and sediment control measures result in considerable amounts of sediment polluting the Brunswick River.
By Byron Shire Council’s (BSC) own Sediment and Erosion Control Guidelines for Developers and Builders, Woolworth’s sediment control measures are surely way short of adequate or compliant.

This concern lead to the Mullum Community Action Network lodging a complaint with BSC. Following that complaint we received a report from Woolworth’s private certifying authority- BW Consulting.

BW reported all was just fine with their clients activities. BW Consulting even had the audacity to blame the water from upstream of the building site for the problems created by Woolworth’s massive excavation. To top it off they made the ludicrous claim that ‘We confirm that the water quality leaving the site is probably better then when it arrives overland’ The consultant obviously did not visit the site when it was raining.

In wet weather only a proportion of the muddy water running off the site and road works flows through the so called geo fabric detention basin. Most of the site and the disturbed road verge has remained as bare earth for months now with no form of stabilisation or re vegetation.

How come BSC officers have not hit Woolworth’s with on the spot fines for what has been totally inadequate for months.

How come small local builders are fined for piles of sand or rubbish without detention fences, materials encroaching on the public road verge, and for road ways and drains not clean and swept.

How come BSC’s General Manager can justify fining a resident for a couple of cycads growing out front of their house while not issuing an on the spot fine to Woolworth’s builder, when 200m from his office, gross volumes of muddy water flow to the Brunswick River when it rains?

Why is it that BSC pursues the ‘little fish’ to the point of ridiculous and lets the ‘big ones’ go free?

Garry Scott