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Win for Lithgow's downhill cyclists
STORY: LEN ASHWORTH
30/04/2009 9:15:00 AM
Last minute protests by environment interests have failed to prevent Lithgow Council granting permission for the establishment of a new mountain bike track in the Hassans Walls reserve.
The Lithgow-based Central Tablelands Mountain Bike Club has been seeking a new location for a championship course for some time after a land sale forced them out of their previous venue at State Mine Gully.
Now the club wants to construct a new track at Sheedys Gully, adjacent to the Lithgow Pony Club grounds.
It was an application that led to heated debate at the latest meeting of Council.
Regional Services Group Manager Andrew Muir said the proposed works involve construction of a downhill mountain bike course capable of accommodating club and State level events.
He said the club had been unable to bid for championship events since losing the State Mine venue and was also to lose its popular Lidsdale State Forest course due to planned logging of that area in 2010.
This will leave the area without a mountain bike venue.
Mr Muir said Lithgow was seen as an ‘exceptional’ downhill mountain bike racing location and a high quality trail traversing various terrain was proposed for Sheedys Gully.
There was already an in principle agreement with the Pony Club to share the use of their existing facilities.
Mr Muir said the club had promised due consideration to environmental concerns while providing a challenging course for State and National events.
He said the Sydney Catchment Authority had provided its concurrence with a number of conditions.
Mr Muir also recommended approval subject to a list of 30 conditions.
The application was also supported by Frank Collison, of the Lithgow Pony Club.
He said the Pony Club had been at that location for 40 years and had recently installed ‘super duper environmentally friendly flushing toilets’ that could be shared by the cyclists.
Mr Collison said the cyclists that had been dealing with the Pony Club members had been very polite people and the club was in favour of the development.
Mountain Bike Club spokesman Craig Flynn also spoke in support of the development.
He said the last time a championship event had been staged on the old State Mine course it was estimated that around $600,000 had been injected into the Lithgow economy.
“Lithgow gets great publicity when riders come from all over the world,” Mr Flynn said.
He said that the club wanted to carry out the development in an environmentally sensitive manner.
He said the construction would be mainly by hand and could easily be removed to address any concerns as downhill riders preferred the course to be as natural as possible.
Mr Flynn said he was concerned that some of the conditions wanted by the Sydney Catchment Authority would prove to be ‘cost prohibitive’.
The application was opposed by Helen Drew who said the application should not be approved while there was no plan of management formulated for the Hassans Walls Reserve.
She was critical of the fact that there had been no prior consultation with the friends of Hassans Walls, the Lithgow Environmental Committee or any other concerned group.
Mrs Drew said there were rare and endangered orchids in the area proposed for the track.
She said there was a real danger of conflict between cyclists and people walking the track.
Cr Martin Ticehurst moved for deferment of any decision on the matter until full community consultation was carried out.
He said that such consultation was totally lacking in the process and he found this to be an unbelievable situation when dealing with public land.
“This (Hassans Walls Reserve) is the biggest environmental area in Lithgow,” he said.
He claimed Council ‘would be crucified’ if it went ahead without consultation.
However Cr Ray Thompson said the matter should proceed as the conditions in the development application addressed every possible concern of the public.
This was supported by Deputy Mayor Grahame Danaher who said that Council’s ‘legal obligations have been met and that should be the end of it’.
After lengthy ongoing debate along similar vein the motion supporting the club’s application was carried on a 5-4 vote.
Win for Lithgow's downhill cyclists
STORY: LEN ASHWORTH
30/04/2009 9:15:00 AM
Last minute protests by environment interests have failed to prevent Lithgow Council granting permission for the establishment of a new mountain bike track in the Hassans Walls reserve.
The Lithgow-based Central Tablelands Mountain Bike Club has been seeking a new location for a championship course for some time after a land sale forced them out of their previous venue at State Mine Gully.
Now the club wants to construct a new track at Sheedys Gully, adjacent to the Lithgow Pony Club grounds.
It was an application that led to heated debate at the latest meeting of Council.
Regional Services Group Manager Andrew Muir said the proposed works involve construction of a downhill mountain bike course capable of accommodating club and State level events.
He said the club had been unable to bid for championship events since losing the State Mine venue and was also to lose its popular Lidsdale State Forest course due to planned logging of that area in 2010.
This will leave the area without a mountain bike venue.
Mr Muir said Lithgow was seen as an ‘exceptional’ downhill mountain bike racing location and a high quality trail traversing various terrain was proposed for Sheedys Gully.
There was already an in principle agreement with the Pony Club to share the use of their existing facilities.
Mr Muir said the club had promised due consideration to environmental concerns while providing a challenging course for State and National events.
He said the Sydney Catchment Authority had provided its concurrence with a number of conditions.
Mr Muir also recommended approval subject to a list of 30 conditions.
The application was also supported by Frank Collison, of the Lithgow Pony Club.
He said the Pony Club had been at that location for 40 years and had recently installed ‘super duper environmentally friendly flushing toilets’ that could be shared by the cyclists.
Mr Collison said the cyclists that had been dealing with the Pony Club members had been very polite people and the club was in favour of the development.
Mountain Bike Club spokesman Craig Flynn also spoke in support of the development.
He said the last time a championship event had been staged on the old State Mine course it was estimated that around $600,000 had been injected into the Lithgow economy.
“Lithgow gets great publicity when riders come from all over the world,” Mr Flynn said.
He said that the club wanted to carry out the development in an environmentally sensitive manner.
He said the construction would be mainly by hand and could easily be removed to address any concerns as downhill riders preferred the course to be as natural as possible.
Mr Flynn said he was concerned that some of the conditions wanted by the Sydney Catchment Authority would prove to be ‘cost prohibitive’.
The application was opposed by Helen Drew who said the application should not be approved while there was no plan of management formulated for the Hassans Walls Reserve.
She was critical of the fact that there had been no prior consultation with the friends of Hassans Walls, the Lithgow Environmental Committee or any other concerned group.
Mrs Drew said there were rare and endangered orchids in the area proposed for the track.
She said there was a real danger of conflict between cyclists and people walking the track.
Cr Martin Ticehurst moved for deferment of any decision on the matter until full community consultation was carried out.
He said that such consultation was totally lacking in the process and he found this to be an unbelievable situation when dealing with public land.
“This (Hassans Walls Reserve) is the biggest environmental area in Lithgow,” he said.
He claimed Council ‘would be crucified’ if it went ahead without consultation.
However Cr Ray Thompson said the matter should proceed as the conditions in the development application addressed every possible concern of the public.
This was supported by Deputy Mayor Grahame Danaher who said that Council’s ‘legal obligations have been met and that should be the end of it’.
After lengthy ongoing debate along similar vein the motion supporting the club’s application was carried on a 5-4 vote.
