The fence was erected with the intention of conserving the Ecologically Endangered Box Gum Grassy Woodland Communities, one of which were found around this site, according to a recent Lachlan Management Authority’s Surveyence of TSR’s.

This survey found that the TSR in question was an important environmental asset to the Weddin Community, which required active management to protect and conserve this small piece of intact remnant woodland within the largely modified landscape of Central NSW.

This is, of course a very important issue surrounding this piece of land along the Bimbi TSR.

Christian Wythes (Senior Land Services Officer) from LLS sought advice/ comments regarding the erection of the proposed fencing plan including it’s positioning and any future issues that it may cause, from Weddin Shire’s Director of Engineering, Bill Twohill, who replied as follows: (without consulting any councillors regarding the proposed fence plan)

“My comments on the proposed works are as follows: The owner would need to be aware of the impacts of flooding and bushfires and should take measures to mitigate them, consideration should be given to the impact of debris buildup on the fence with the potential to create flood waters backing up and collapsing, causing issues both upstream and downstream. No approvals are required for this type of activity from Council, the fence should also be positioned at least 5m from the edge of the bitumen road and be clear of the Bimbi sign”.

With the go ahead given by Mr Twohill the LLS proceeded to erect the fence.

While they have erected the fence 5mtrs from the bitumen road, it has somehow gone beyond the DP 1134557 area that is managed by LLS, and after some time a myriad of dilemmas have arisin causing the community of Bimbi great concern.

Council then resolved at their December meeting that they would write a letter to Central West LLS requesting the fence be removed.

After Mr Twohill’s reply giving LLS the go ahead to erect the fence, as these types of work require no approvals from Council, he then wrote a letter to LLS (as per December meetings resolution) outlining five main reasons why the fence should now be removed: The reasons are as follows:

1/ The fencing is well outside the Portion DP 1134557, it has been erected in the table drain of the Bimbi/Grenfell road and is now expected to compromise the flood mitigation arrangements of the Shire.

2/ Stock movements from Hunters Lane and Bribbaree heading towards Grenfell will be forced through the village of Bimbi and residents have strongly voiced their concerns, shrubs etc on nature strips will be trampled and damaged.

3/ Recently attempts have been made to alleviate the fire threat on this recently fenced area. No attempt has been made to address the problem south of the bridge which has been fenced off and abandoned for 2yrs.

4/ Stock have been shut in this area and caused environmental damage that would not have occurred in a normal grazing situation.

5/ The fencing on the Grenfell road has also stopped stock from grazing closer to the road.

This is more likely to cause accidents as kangaroos are harder to see coming from tall grass.

While these are very legitimate reasons for concern and for the removal of the fence, the photos show an even deeper concern for this remnant community, the community for which the fence was originally erected.

You can see from the images that there is a significant fire hazzard, as already explained in writing to the LLS from the Bimbi RFS Fire Captain, as well as a distressing sign of these beautiful yellow gums being choked by overgrown, unsightly pepper trees, the build up of foliage around the fence causing flood waters to flow through the village etc etc etc.....

The LLS reply to Council’s concerns were met with full explanations for each issue as follows:

1/(LLS reply to Councils number one issue) Consultation for the fence construction and design via email was completed with the Weddin Shire engineer on 19/5/2014, One question was asked in direct relation to the fence position and the response received from the shire engineer was:

“The owner would need to be aware of the impacts of flooding and bushfires and should take measures to mitigate them, consideration should be given to the impact of debris buildup on the fence with the potential to create flood waters backing up and collapsing, causing issues both upstream and downstream. No approvals are required for this type of activity from Council, the fence should also be positioned at least 5m from the edge of the bitumen road and be clear of the Bimbi sign”.

2/ The concerns that the fence could change or modify the flow of stock through the village was evaluated and a plan was put into place: all travelling stock moving to the Grenfell Road from either the Quandialla Rd or the Bribbaree Road or Hunters Lane use the designated stock access road along the western and northern boundaries of the Bimbi Village.

This will alleviate the need for any travelling stock to move through the village of Bimbi and remove the threat of damage to the shrubs and nature strips within the village.

3/ As part of our ongoing TSR management, a grazing plan will be developed for Bimbi and the adjoining reserve south of the Bimbi village.This plan minimises the risk of these sites carrying a high fuel load of ground cover (i.e. these photos prove differently - Editor) into the summer months. These plans are an ongoing initiative of Central west Local Land Services in using grazing management as a tool to improve the biodiversity values identified within the regions TSR’s.

4/The grazing plan developed for Bimbi TSR is designed to improve the environmental values of the site, not be of detriment. This is monitored and reported against as a Federally funded initiative.

5/ Tall roadside grass does have the capacity to conceal native animals, however like all maintained roads, native animals pose a potential risk to motorists.

It is unlikely that this roadside poses a higher risk than other roads in the region.

As the section of roadway in question is close to the Bimbi village, a shire maintenance program covering slashing or spraying of roadside vegetation to stop it encroaching towards the tarred section of the Grenfell road should be in place.

Fencing was erected closer to the road to allow for stock to graze as much of the reserve during the grazing periods to prevent grass growing tall and uncontrolled.

Whilst these responses seem reasonable, unfortunately LLS have not officially viewed the problem first hand (onsite), they have not witnessed the major concerns of the village residents first hand and experienced their worries, there has been no community consultation, the Weddin Shire Councillor’s were not informed about the fences erection and neither was the Board of Chairmans of the LLS, these issues remain along with many concerns in regards to this particular reserve, the rare ecological community that need protecting seems that evidence is strong, in this case, the erection of this “protection” fence has caused significant detriment to the area as well as the entire village of Bimbi. Deborah Bate has offered both the Weddin Shire Council and the Bimbi RFS Captain to arrange a meeting onsight.

This would be a good opportunity to present the problem to the LLS displaying the extreme damage and other problems that this particular fence has caused. It is only a fence I hear you say, unfortunately this fence has become an issue and needs resolving asap.

The Record Editor contacted Deborah Bate (Manager of Central West Local Land Services), Ian Donges (Board Member, Central West Local Land Services), Bill Twohill (Weddin Shire Director of Engineering) and Councillor John Niven (Weddin Shire, Deputy Mayor) for their comments on this matter and they are as follows:

Deborah Bate: Had not returned the Editors phone call at the time this article went to print.

Ian Donges: “I will comment ‘For the record’ that I welcome a representative for a resolution to this problem anytime as it needs solving. I was not aware of this issue until the Grenfell Record editor’s phone call on Friday, March 6, 2015.

Bill Twohill: Mr Twohill commented “This correspondence (regarding the issues of the fence) should come up at Council’s March Meeting, and should that occur, the councillors will make any decisions to come to a resolution”

Clr John Niven, Weddin Shire Deputy Mayor: “ I am completely astounded by the entire process of the fence erection and the issues this has resulted in, just appalling, I feel that the LLS are completely dysfunctional. When Minister Hodgkinson, Dr John Keniry and Mick Keogh visited Grenfell for consultation about the structure of the then proposed LLS (Local Land Services), the overwhelming message was that any boards that should be elected, should be totally democratically elected. What we were given as a result was a 7 person board with four Ministerial appointments??? An unaccountable bureaucracy funded by farmers??? LLS rates are approx 30% of Council rates, taxation without representation” said Councilor Niven.

“At this meeting myself and many others suggested then that if Councils were to receive the former LHPA rates they could attend to pest animals and Stock Route management. Councils already attend to weeds and straying stock.......DPI could attend to Animal health as happens in every other State”.

Surely both parties would like to come to a mutually satisfying agreement?

Hopefully this can happen.

Further news on this subject will be printed in the Record as it comes to hand.

- Editor