The council will hand back a government grant secured to build a truck wash in Goulburn, for want of a suitable site.
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However it will continue to lobby the state and federal governments to build a facility on our patch, given the importance of biosecurity.
The decision has deeply disappointed at least one local livestock carrier.
The $710,000 was secured under the Fixing Country Truck Washes program last year in two tranches. Operations director Matt O’Rourke said the council was initially granted $500,000 which was well short of the estimated $2.1 million cost.
It subsequently revised the project, simplifying onsite effluent management and secured agreement to discharge effluent into Southern Meats management system. This reduced the cost to $1.51 million.
In June 2017, the program granted a further $210,000 to the council, taking the total to $710,000, which was to be co-funded by the abattoir through land provision and effluent discharge.
Mr O’Rourke said when the council again approached Southern Meats about the location, abattoir management advised that it was no longer happy for effluent from an onsite treatment plant to discharge into its system. This was primarily because it could overload its effluent management system.
“Utilising Southern Meats’ onsite management system was the significant factor in achieving the reduced project estimate,” Mr O’Rourke said.
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He told the most recent council meeting the decision was associated with the abattoir’s “internal processes.”
Mr O’Rourke said the truck wash was now unaffordable under the current budget because an onsite effluent treatment system would cost about $600,000 to build.
In addition, staff had been unable to identify other locations for the truck wash. They explored Sinclair Street on council land near the waste management centre and the possibility of discharging into leachate ponds. But this too required a treatment system, for which the council had insufficient funds.
He said highway access was a distinct advantage of both Mazamet Road (the abattoir’s location) and Sinclair Street.
Carriers such as Fred Troutman have long lobbied for a truck wash, firstly after paying high fees at the Goulburn saleyards and since the closure of that complex in April, 2017.
Now they can also use the truck wash at Yass saleyard.
His industry body, the Livestock Carriers and Rural Bulk Carriers Association was instrumental in securing the Fixing Country Truck Washes program following discussions with state and federal governments about biosecurity. The fund comprised $5 million from each level of government after then State Roads Minister Duncan convinced the Commonwealth to contribute.
Mr Troutman and the Association were also involved in discussions with the council and Southern Meats.
“It’s very disappointing that this money is being handed back,” he said.
“We’ll be coming out of the abattoirs and criss-crossing roads with diseased trucks. Not everyone will go to Moss Vale or Yass to wash out.”
Mr Troutman warned that if the Goulburn district experienced a wet period, as it did two years ago after dry winters, foot rot would flair, posing a huge dilemma.
He said any animal disease breakout could necessitate closure of the highway in and out of Goulburn because there was no truck wash.
Mr Troutman told The Post it was not just him and other carriers affected, but also the abattoir.
But Mayor Bob Kirk isn’t happy to leave the matter there. He argued a truck wash was essentially a biosecurity outcome that should be funded by the state and federal governments, not councils.
“The problem still exists and we need to address it in whatever way we can,” he said.
“Road users only have to experience being splashed by liquid animal waste as they drive around our streets and roads and see the green trails to know this is a continuing issue that won’t go away because we can’t build a truck wash.
“It’s very much a statewide issue and it’s not for us to secure funding...There are any number of concerns bringing stock in and out and to the abattoir and they have to discharge their waste... It’s a real problem. In handing back this money, we still have to take the issue forward.”
Councillors decided they would continue to lobby the state and federal government for a facility.
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