Cessnock Council Won't Reuse Gravesites

BY MADELAINE MCNEILL

Cessnock Council has announced it won't be reusing gravesites in its 10 council-owned cemeteries.

The state government announced changes to burials last year, meaning families would be forced to choose between a perpetual burial site or temporary sites - which could be dug up and reused after a certain amount of time.

Mayor Bob Pynsent said council doesn't think its fair graves could be dug up if families are unable to afford a perpetual plot, or if they fail to pay for renewal after a certain period of time.

"Council decided we would not put a 25-year timeline on the purchase of grave sites," said Mayor Pynsent.

"We thought that was wrong; People purchase a gravesite at any of our ten cemeteries, and we believe it should be for life, not for 25 years and the grave needing to be disturbed."

In November 2018, local concerns were raised over the issue when Wallsend MP Sonia Hornery said she had seen more concern on social media about the changes than about any other issue.

Cessnock Cemetery. Image: Cessnock Council

Healthier Communities one Food Outlet at a Time...

BY JESSICA ROUSE AND DANIELLE RIES

We all know we should be eating healthy and using healthy ingredients.

You may not have even noticed but Cessnock City Council has been leading the way when it comes to using healthy oils at food outlets.

The Healthier Oils Program was launched back in 2011 in a bid to reduce community exposure to saturated and trans fats by encouraging food outlets to make the switch to healthier options.

It's certainly proven successful - when the program first started, only 17 per cent of local food outlets were using healthy oils and now statistics show 67 per cent of businesses are now taking part.

Heart Foundation Regional Health Promotion Coordinator Penny Milson is particularly pleased with the results.

"Cessnock Council has been monitoring what oils are being used by local food outlets. When we commenced this journey in 2011 only 17 per cent of outlets were using healthier oil. The data that we have now tells us that 67 per cent, so almost 7 in 10 food outlets are now using a cooking oil which meets Heart Foundation guidelines," said Penny.

The program was made possible by a partnership between council, the Heart Foundation, Coalfields Healthy Heartbeat (Samaritans) and local food businesses.

Penny believes that without the help of local food businesses and their expertise along the way to program would never have been as successful as it is.

She adds that knowing what fats are good and bad makes a huge difference as well.

'This program is targeting fats and oils because we know that the type of fat is important. Saturated fats, in particular, do raise our LDL or bad cholesterol and there are other fats that are good for our heart health such as poly and monounsaturated fats that you find in healthier fats like canola oil."

Cessnock Receives Flood Protection Funding

BY GRACE LANCASTER

The New South Wales Government is providing Cessnock City Council with $226,666 worth of funding to respond effectively to local flood emergencies.

This Floodplain Management's grant introduces three different warning system projects, designed to provide early alerts to property owners, warning residents and local emergency services in the area.

Cessnock City Mayor, Councillor Bob Pynsent welcomed the grant, believing it to be a much-needed boost to these local communities.

"These projects will go a long way to improving services and building resilience in communities of Cessnock, Abermain, Weston and Wollombi and more importantly, to reduce the personal risk of being caught in or isolated by flood water", he said.

Parliamentary Secretary for The Hunter, Scot MacDonald says the programs will complement initiatives already undertaken by the local community. 

"It starts right at the beginning from personal responsibility and personal resilience and making your property disaster ready if you like...and we, of course, can do our bit with things like this floodplain management", he said. 

Image: news.com.au 

Residents Urged to Stay Away from Richmond Vale Railway Museum

BY JESSICA ROUSE

Cessnock City Council is urging residents to stay away from Richmond Vale Railway Museum and surrounding bushland.

It comes after fire ripped through the area on Wednesday - the fire burnt through 920 hectares of land, tragically destroying some of the museum's stock.

The Rural Fire Service (RFS) has declared the site a 'Fire Ground' and an exclusion zone has been enforced. No one, including the public, volunteers and media, can enter the site without consent from the RFS.

"This is a huge loss for our community, in particular for the dedicated volunteers who have worked tirelessly for many years to preserve our railway and mining heritage," said a council spokesperson.

The Railway museum released a statement on their Facebook page yesterday echoing the council's warning to residents.

"Museum members and members of the public are advised that security has been posted at the museum's access road to control admission, and that police will be patrolling the area. Please stay away."



The losses the museum suffered during the blaze include:
- 3 stainless steel passenger cars
- 10 of 16 restored non-air coal hoppers and almost all non-restored wagons
- All of the unrestored general freight vehicles
- Approximately 2.5 kilometres of track
- Damage to number 1 bridge on the link line to Pelaw Main

"These losses mean that the museum's rail operations will be suspended pending gradual track rehabilitation. An announcement about other aspects of the museum's activities will be made as soon as access issues are resolved."

Old burnt-out coal wagon Image AAP/Darren Pateman

Welcome to the "new and improved" Wine Country

BY RACHEL STORER

Already one of the most popular wine regions in the country, the Hunter Valley is welcoming developments from local council and federal government that will help increase tourism and exports.

The multi-million dollar upgrade to Broke Road and Hermitage Road was unveiled yesterday after 12-months of construction and includes improvements to the road surfaces, a tourist information bay and a 10.6 kilometre cycleway.

The joint venture between Cessnock and Singleton Councils was funded by a successful bid for $16.7 million from the NSW Government "Resources for Regions" program.

The wine region is also welcoming a share in the Australian Government's $50 million Export and Regional Wine Support Package.

The funding will be spread throughout regional wine areas and aims to increase wine exports and international tourism.

Among the program $3 million grants will be made available to smaller wineries looking to branch into the export market while other funding will also be given to develop regional wine tourism and cellar door experiences.

Cessnock City Mayor, Bob Pynsent believes the Hunter is well deserving of new infrastructure and funding.

"Improving the roads in the vineyards precinct is so important to the amenities for tourists and the inclusion of a cycleway certainly gives diversity to the activities tourists can do," he said.

Cr Pynsent said Cessnock City Council is committed to doubling the overnight accommodation numbers by the year 2020 and believes all these initiatives work together to assist in attracting tourists to our area.

(L-R) Hunter MP Joel Fitzgibbon, Upper Hunter MP Michael Johnson, Singleton Mayor Sue Moore and Cessnock Mayor Bob Pynsent test out the new cycleway. (Image: Cessnock Advertiser)

Cessnock residents asked to clean up their act

BY JARROD MELMETH

A notorious illegal dumping ground on McLeod Road in Loxford has been cleaned up and Cessnock City Council is hoping it stays that way.

Cleaning up the 22.4 hectare site was no easy task and Council worked closely with the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA), Crown Lands and local company Goninan & Sons to get the job done.

The project involved removing 78.6 tonnes of waste, installing fencing around the site and putting in three gates for access to services.

The waste removed from the site included 7.92 tonnes of asbestos, 28 tyres, 12 needles, whitegoods and general household rubbish.

Cessnock City Mayor, Councillor Bob Pynsent said he was disgusted the site got to this point and is calling on the community to clean up their act.

“One of the concerning things in this clean-up was the amount of children’s toys and items such as prams and car seats, indicating families are some of the key offenders.

“If kids are in tow when parents are dumping rubbish in bushland, it sends a message that this is OK, which is highly concerning,”Cr Pynsent said.

In an effort to educate the community and prevent further illegal dumping, Council also distributed a brochure to all residents in Loxford, Kurri Kurri, Clifleigh, Standford Methyr and Weston.
This project was funded by the NSW EPA through the Waste Less Recycle More initiative, funded by the waste levy. 

The dumping site at Loxford. 

Cessnock Council on board with freight rail corridor

BY DANIELLE RIES and JESSICA ROUSE

Released earlier this month, a report from Infrastructure Australia revealed the Hunter Valley freight rail corridor is one of seven corridors in Australia which should be protected.

Cessnock City Council has welcomed and supported the finding that protecting the corridor for the future will benefit the community long term.

Mayor Bob Pynsent believes it to be vital to the future of the Hunter from both an economic and connectivity perspective and would particularly like to see progress on the Lower Hunter Freight Corridor.

Mayor Bob Pynsent Image cessnockadvertiser.com.au

"The opportunity to grow transport for infrastructure links right across the Lower Hunter and as I said as our population grows we need those infrastructure projects to enable the connectivity between the regions."

Transport NSW has undertaken preliminary investigations into the Lower Hunter Freight Corridor and have identified a number of key benefits including improving congestion and urban amenity in Newcastle.

"As our local government area grows, the demand for train connection with Newcastle becomes imperative and preservation of the corridor will certainly assist in that," said Mayor Bob Pynsent.

Cessnock Council calling for funds to fix roads

BY JESSICA ROUSE

Cessnock City Council is calling on the NSW Government to make their roads a priority and address concerns over the condition of state roads in the area.

Cessnock councillors have voted unanimously to support a motion to seek support from state government officials.

Mayor Bob Pynsent says the council are seeking urgent meetings with the Minister for Roads, Maritime and Freight Melinda Pavey, in a bid to work towards a solution for Cessnock's ageing state road network.

Talks with other official parties haven't been as successful as the council had hoped.

'We've been talking to RMS (Roads and Maritime Services) for a number of months now, and we don't seem to be getting a final result; as in funding for our roads, and we're concerned about Main Road Heddon Greta, the entrances out of Frame Drive Bridge and Wine Country Drive at Nulkaba."

Among the roads and intersections the council say need attention include:
- Wine Country Drive, Nulkaba - intersection work
- Wine Country Drive, Nulkaba maintenance works and access to the Cessnock Correctional Centre
- Main Road, Heddon Greta - intersection issues and pedestrian issues
- Hart Road, Frame Drive, Orange Street, Cessnock Road connection to the HEX
- Wollombi Road

The Hunter Expressway is thought to be causing a lot of problems for the small town roads with a lot of extra traffic moving through the town to either get on the expressway or getting off to go elsewhere.

"The need for funding is purely on the saftey issues that have resulted from teh extra traffic on the road network around the hunter expressway," said Bob Pynsent.

NSW Government Rules Out Moving Site Of Proposed Lower Hunter Hospital

BY IAN CROUCH

Parliamentary Secretary for the Hunter, Scot MacDonald says it's too late to consider moving the site of the proposed Lower Hunter Hospital at Metford.

There's still no word on when construction of the $400 million facility will begin.

Cessnock City Council last week passed a motion to hold talks with the government in a bid to move the site to a location along the Hunter Expressway, believing a hospital built there would better serve the Hunter Valley, Cessnock and Maitland.

Maitland MP, Jenny Aitchison would not support the idea, saying there's npow quick access for coalfields residents to the John Hunter Hospital via the Hunter Expressway and the Metford site would better serve the valley as well as the Port Stephens and Dungog shires.

Parliamentary Secretary for the Hunter, Scot MacDonald says the government has already spent millions on acquiring the land and pre-construction planning, and there's no turning back now.

"We're certainly interested to hear why the council thinks it should be moved and we're certainly interested in what other ideas they might have. But it's very difficult once you acquire the site, once the plans are under way, the consultation with clinical staff has begun. So, there's a lot of planning work. We've already spent several millions of dollars," he said.

Scott McDonald

Cessnock Council Seeks Input On Fying Fox Camp

BY IAN CROUCH

 Cesnnock Council has launched an online survey to allow residents to share their thoughts on how to deal with the city's flying fox problem.

There's been a flying fox camp at East Cessnock for a number of years, but a population explosion at the beginning of this year has seen the number of bats reach an estimated peak of 30,000.

It's made living in the neighbourhood unbearable for residents as well as staff and students at the nearby primary school, who have to cope with the excessive noise, odour and mess made by the protected species.

 In frustration, some residents decided to take matters into their own hands, with at least four fires lit beneath the bat colony during a week in May in the hope of destroying or driving the creatures away.

The NSW Office of Environment and Heritage responded with $10,000 being given to Cessnock Council to develop a flying fox management plan.

Council, in conjunction with the Office of Environment and Heritage and the Department of Industry - Lands, has now created a web portal for residents to provide input via an online survey which will then be considered in developing the management plan.

The survey includes a range of options on managing the flying fox camp for residents to consider.

It takes about 5 to 10 minutes to complete and can be found at:

http://www.flyingfoxengage.com/eastcessnock

Council's Principal Natural Environment Planner, Ian Turnbull said the survey is also a good opportunity to educate and better inform the community about flying foxes.

"Flying foxes and their behavior is really quite complex and there's a lot of assumptions about flying foxes, so any opportunity to change some of those assumptions is a good one," he said.

Of those assumptions, "One of them is, everyone says 'let's get rid of the flying foxes', and that's extraordinarily difficult, complex and often unsuccessful, so we would like to try to increase some of the awareness in some of these issues," Mr Turnbull said.

Road Upgrade Could Have Huge Economic Benefits for Pokolbin Area

BY BRIDGET GUNN

A sod-turning ceremony to mark the start of the upgrade of Hermitage Road and cycleway through Pokolbin took place at 1pm today.

The project is a joint venture between Singleton and Cessnock Councils and should be a huge benefit for the area, says Singleton Mayor John Martin.

"Council will be doing a lot of work on the road and putting in cycle paths," says Martin.

"This upgrade will help with bringing tourists through the vineyards in the area, so it's a win-win for everybody, and its a great upgrade for Hermitage Road, particularly the cycleway that will go beside it."

Singleton Council General Manager Jason Linnane,
Cessnock Mayor Bob Pynsent,
Cessnock City Council General Manager Stephen Glen and
 Singleton Mayor John Martin inspecting works in Pokolbin.
Source: The Advertiser

Controversial Mosque Approved

BY IAN CROUCH

 Cessnock City Council has given the go-ahead to a mosque at Buchanan.

Councillors voted 6-4 in favour of the controversial project at last night's meeting which was attended by several police officers, who made sure tensions didn't get out of hand.

Those against the mosque spoke of how it would create traffic problems, while some feared it would lead to increased crime, however Mayor Bob Pynsent who voted for it says it met all the planning requirements.


The Association's Diana Rah says they are looking forward becoming a part of the local community and hopes it time they can put community fears surrounding the development to rest.

Diana Rah Photo courtesy theherald.com.au

Mosque Decison Due Tonight

BY IAN CROUCH

 Those for and against a mosque at Buchanan are set to come face to face at Cessnock Council tonight as a decision is made on whether the controversial plan is given the go ahead.

16 speakers will address the meeting in support of the mosque, while 12 will speak against it.

Council staff have recommended the project be approved as it meets planning guidelines.

Buchanan Mosque -artist's impression

Controversial Mosque Recommended For Approval

BY IAN CROUCH

 A controversial mosque earmarked for Buchanan has been recommended for approval by staff at Cessnock Council.

It will now be up to councillors to decide if the project is given the go-ahead at this Wednesday's meeting.

Council planners say the mosque, which has been re-designed so it's further off the road, meets all the planning requirements.


The revised plan also includes a separate building for a funeral home and additional landscaping.

Of the 600 submissions to council, 447 opposed the development while 163 supported it.

Buchanan Mosque Site. Photo courtesy Maitland Mercury