The Beagle Editor,
I made an interesting discovery just over a week ago, in the lead up to the “Get Ready Weekend” when we were all being exhorted to have our own bushfire plans ready.
I thought the best place to start to find out what Council does and what they recommend for my property was to read the latest Eurobodalla Bushfire Risk Management Plan. It appears that the latest according to Council's own website was Sept 2011, some eight years ago.
What is notable about this document is that it is supposed to be renewed/reviewed every 5 years yet this document is signed off in September 2011 (see page 1), meaning it should have been renewed/reviewed 3 years ago. Chapter 4 Performance Monitoring and Reviewing
4.1 Review
This BFRMP must be reviewed and updated within each successive five-year period from
the constitution of the BFMC. The Eurobodalla BFMC will also review this plan as necessary
to account for any changes in context or risk. This may be triggered by a range of
circumstances, including but not limited to:
changes to the BFMC area, organisational responsibilities or legislation;
changes to the bush fire risk in the area; or
following a major fire event.
Not sure why the Eurobodalla update has not occurred, but together with the recent discovery about the out dated 2011 Eurobodalla Drought Management Plan (which appears to now be removed from Council's website) it would seem that Eurobodalla has not exactly embraced the “Get Ready” message for the coming summer nor attended to the required housekeeping of reviewing documents and plans.
The other interesting aspect about this outdated Eurobodalla Bushfire Risk Management Plan document is that it specifies that the LEP (not the DCP) should be used to “exclude development in extreme bush fire risk areas” – looks like ESC isn’t heeding the Eurobodalla Bush Fire Risk Management Plan, for some reason…….
Maybe our councillors might like to ask the General Manager why these Plans have not been updated.
name and address supplied
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