At the 2008 Annual State conference of the Rural Lands Protection Board (RLPB), NSW Primary Industries minister Ian McDonald advised that the NSW Government was committed to implement the recommendations contained within the Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) Review report.
The minister alluded to the need for finetuning in a number of areas after receiving a circular from State Council referring to the above finetuning and in particular external boundaries.
The boards of Coonamble, Nyngan and Walgett met on July 2 and discussed a proposal for their boards to amalgamate and become one new board. This was seen as being hardly a radical proposal as suggested by some.
This meeting decided to put a submission to State Council by their deadline of July 31, following their suggested criteria for new external board boundaries.
This is a very short time frame, and it is hoped this proposal will receive favourable consideration by State Council as ratepayer representation is at stake.
When asked about the plans Bill Colless, chairman of the Walgett RLPB said: “we just want to stay as we are”.
He added they were losing too many services and facilities and with poor representation at stake it was “not good for the locals”.
Given that the ratepayers largely fund the activities of Rural Lands Protection Boards, decreased ratepayer representation is seen as a threat to the great strengths of the board system such as local knowledge and vigilance, immediate response capacity and community building.
The board feels the proposal to amalgamate Coonamble, Nyngan and Walgett boards would bring three very similar RLPBs together.
With even representation for each board and the ability to maintain the core strengths and services of animal health and pest animal/insect advisory and regulatory services, and management of travelling stock route in the north west corridor, it is vital to maintain the shopfronts to maintain ratepayer services, and local employment and knowledge.
The Walgett, Nyngan and Coonamble boards feel the amalgamation of the boards is a more practical proposal than that suggested in the IMC report which proposes Dubbo, Molong, Nyngan and Coonamble amalgamate to form the Central West board and Walgett, Moree, Narrabri and Northern Slopes amalgamate to form the North West board.
This would serve ratepayer interest in these areas more effectively.
It is hoped the board receives the careful consideration it deserves from State Council.