OBERON Council will write to its Bathurst equivalent to try to broker an agreement to protect a UHF telecommunications tower at Mount Ryan, north of Burraga.
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The decision was made at council's recent ordinary meeting.
Council resolved in April to write to Minister for Lands and Forests Paul Toole seeking to have the fees associated with the tower’s use removed.
It followed council receiving correspondence from the Rural Fire Service, NSW SES and landowners within Burraga, Rockley and Trunkey Creek seeking support from council to maintain the tower.
Mr Toole has since written to council, however, to say there is no opportunity to waive fees for the tower.
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The facility was built to provide radio communication for RFS and SES groups, both state and local, but state groups no longer use the tower and instead use another within the same locality.
Local RFS and SES groups, however, still use the UHF CB distributor when there is limited or no coverage from the Government Radio Network (GRN).
Under the former Evans Shire amalgamation with Bathurst Regional Council, an agreement was entered into with the Forestry Corporation and Bathurst Regional Council to operate the tower. This agreement has now expired and Bathurst Regional Council has indicated it is now committed to the new command centre that has been constructed in Bathurst and is no longer financially supporting the Mount Ryan site.
Further, Bathurst Regional Council has indicated that as the local SES and RFS groups rely on the site and it falls within the Oberon local government area, the agreement defaults to Oberon Council.
In information received from the landowner, Forestry Corporation, it is claimed that if Oberon does not want to support the network, the tower will be removed and the service lost.
Oberon Council sees it’s only option is to seek a collaborative partnership with Bathurst Regional Council to retain the infrastructure.
If Bathurst Regional Council declines, Oberon Council will determine if it requires the infrastructure under the standard agreement with NSW Forestry Corporation.
