By JONATHON HOWARD
A GROUP of Cooroy residents are desperately trying to stop the development of an intensive broiler farm at Top Forestry Road, which is pending a final ruling from Noosa Council in 2015.
A petition of those living on the haul route showed more than 90 per cent of locals were opposed to the intensive chicken farm, while a lesser group has expressed support for the farm.
The proposed chicken-growing operation at Ridgewood is to house 100,000 fewer birds at 230,000 per year and is to be built in two stages, starting with five sheds instead of the original eight.
The “no broiler farm Cooroy” campaign organiser Rod Ritchie said a decision around the proposal was likely to be delayed until March.
“Since there has been no response from the applicant to Noosa Council’s 22 September request, and because the answers will need appraisal by council staff and the community, it is unlikely that the application will be decided before the March 2015 ordinary meeting,“ he said.
Mr Ritchie highlighted several areas that remained for consideration including proposed improvements to Top Forestry Road, an alternative haul route, alternative chicken pick-up times, odour impacts on five properties and an infrastructure agreement.
“Other issues not yet fully addressed include: noise and odour modelling that takes in the unique topography and common temperature inversions; site operations effects 24 hours, not just daytime; lack of on-site dust modelling; miscalculations, contradictory data and omissions on traffic data; and details of litter removal and shed cleaning process,“ he said.
“As we go into another Christmas without a decision, it’s worth remembering that the main reasons for the delays for the decision have been consistently changing applications, tardy responses to council requests for information, and a total lack of communication between the applicant and the local community.
“But, since we also understand that the current council requests for information could produce a planning report that goes against us, we continue to look for information that proves to council that this application is based on poor scientific methodology.”
Mr Ritchie said there was a need to convince a couple of Noosa councillors, who he said appeared to be supporting the broiler farm proposal, that they must seriously consider all aspects of the application and “listen to community concerns”.
“We have our local petition, now we need other people living in the Noosa Shire to sign our new online petition at the top right of this page. Please sign now and encourage all those shire residents you know to also sign before we close the petition in late January,” he said.
HAVE YOUR SAY: Do you support an intesive chicken broiler farm at Top Forestry Road in Cooroy? Email your letters or comments to newsdesk@noosatoday.net.au
