ShUT
The Tomerong Quarry was established on former farmland about 1975 east of the village. The sedimentary siltstone (shale) is blasted and crushed and used as road base. In August 2009 residents were notified of a private Development Application (DA) to use the Quarry for the disposal of non-putrescible waste including construction and demolition waste from the Illawarra and the South Coast. If approved the Waste Disposal Facility would run concurrently with the Quarry.
Concerned residents called a public meeting the following month (12 Sep 2009) and the ShUT Campaign Incorporated (Shoalhaven Unwanted Tip) was formed with an objective to ensure approval of the application was denied. A rally was organised on 22 September at the quarry entrance on Gumden Lane in St George’s Basin. As the deadline for public submissions was in October the Group formed specialist teams to focus on the EIS & Research, Public Awareness and Media, with a Steering Committee overseeing the organisation. Signs, flyers, websites, newspaper advertisements, T-shirts, membership drives, meetings, rallies, fundraisers, raffles, dances, garage sales, media and lobbying events were initially used to publicise the DA, its potential impact, and the existence of ShUT.
A briefing meeting, organised by Shoalhaven City Council (SCC) and including the DA proponents, was held at Vincentia High School in October. When the submission period closed to the SCC over 700 submissions had been made. In February 2010 the NSW Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water (DECCW) refused to support the application causing the proponent to lodge additional supporting material in April, leading to DECCW support in June. A second rally was organised at Gumden Lane in April and this was followed by a rally in Wollongong and outside State Parliament in July.
In August 2010 the Joint Regional Planning Panel (JRPP- the State Government body that held the authority to approve or reject the application) held a public meeting in the village and received additional applications against the DA. In October SCC rejected the DA on 10 major points. This and the ShUT submissions were endorsed by the SCC Councillors in a separate submission to the JRPP.
On 21 October 2010 the JRPP unanimously rejected the application. ShUT members and supporters had spent thousands of hours researching, understanding, evaluating, assessing and communicating the technical, cultural, legislative and political facets of the application and generated detailed and damning submissions to the SCC, the DECCW and the JRPP. ShUT members and the community celebrated the victory with an event at the School of Arts in the following month. No appeal was lodged by the proponent and ShUT officially ceased to exist on 8 June 2012. [1]
Back to Institutions of Tomerong
Notes and References
- ↑ Some information sourced from www.shutip.com in May 2013, TP4574. ShUT Minutes, Flyers and Media Reports.
Images
- ShUT Album First image of album.
Links
- Tomerong Local History Web Page- tomeronghistory.com
- Tomerong Past Facebook Album- Tomerong Past Facebook This site may provide more information relative to this institution, business or location. Check the appropriate album; e.g. ShUT, Other, Clyde Shire etcetera.
- Tomerong History- From Bullocks to Bypass
