Walcha Council yesterday voted to approve the draft Voluntary Planning Agreement (VPA) for the Winterbourne Wind Farm with a vote of six in favour and two against.
The vote took place after members of the community were given three minutes each to address the meeting. The small chamber was packed with Walcha residents eager to hear the outcome of the meeting and hear the addresses made by the six community members – three in favour of the wind farm, three against.
The VPA would entail a payment of approximately $750,000 per year into a Community Benefit Fund (CBF) that would be disbursed to the Walcha community.
The wind farm is expected to run for 30 years.
Those against it claimed that the VPA offered poor value for money, as well as potentially blighting the landscape, and criticised Council for the short period of time the VPA was on display.
Others claimed the VPA represented a tremendous opportunity for Walcha, and that the town owed it to future generations to not just ensure the security of the town, but also the environment.
Local pedorthist Casper Ozinga was “totally at ease” with the wording of the VPA, comparing it to similar ones that have, he said, worked out well for other towns.
“In the Inverell Shire,” Ozinga said, “(community) groups have received grants from the Sapphire Wind Farm Community Benefit Fund, and so far has allocated over $85,000 worth of community projects.”
“The VPA is in such a way that Walcha will own the CBF, and I think that’s how it should be.”
Anna Young, a clinical psychologist from a local farming family, asked for the council to “press pause” on the VPA, claiming that the VPA had not been clearly advertised, with only a “meagre Facebook post” advising residents to look at the VPA on the website, with no other forms of advertising.
“There has been an undercurrent of secrecy and lack of transparency, and therefore growing anxiety around all things to do with wind farms and the way they’ve been handled in our community to date,” Young said.
Holly Fletcher, scientist, and member of a long-standing Walcha farming family, said that the wind farm needs to be approved for the future of not just the town, but to fight back against climate change.
“Fact is, our community depends on the environment for our income and our livelihoods, meaning, when compared to our city cousins, we have become disproportionately impacted by climate inaction,” Fletcher said.
“What better goal could we achieve than the production of renewable energy to reduce our emissions? And what better legacy to gift our children and grandchildren?”
After the meeting, Michael Luchich, who spoke out against the VPA, said that the signing-off should have been delayed.
“We haven’t seen what the final plan of the project is going to be. That’s now been delayed to the end of August.”
“We want to see what the project is going to look like, what the amendments to the project are, and then Council can make an assessment of what needs to be what needs to happen.”
This vote only approves the draught of the VPA, and while it is one small hurdle overcome for the project, Winterbourne remains to be fully approved for building.
“This has probably been the most testing thing that’s come to this Council,” Mayor Eric Noakes said. “And this isn’t an easy thing for Council to do, to make this decision – but sometimes decisions have
Top image: Holly Fletcher addresses yesterday’s meeting (Tom Plevey)
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