ANGER GROWING OVER RUBBISH TIP CLOSURES

“Saving council over $20 million Dollars” – Please understand that this is a NOT “saving” found by Council, it is an additional tax on Hinterland rate payers as we will be charged nearly $240 for a service that cannot effectively operate in much of the Hinterland area.

Nor does this service meet the needs of rural properties that generate large amounts green (non-wheelie bin) waste…. We have very different needs to our suburban friends and this point seems lost on Council.

Users of the current Maudsland facility who don’t get the new kerbside service, will be required to travel to Helensvale on a regular basis and get charged $80 per yeah for the privilege, as Council feels we are being subsidised by the suburban areas who pay a fee in their rates for collection services.

In isolation this may well be true, but we pay a substancial sum for our rates and get next to no services what so ever. No water, no sewerage, no waste collection, no buses, no kerbs, no drainage, no parks for kids, no street lighting, very few potholes fixed and reduced response times from emergency services…. the list goes on and on! It’s like living on Gilligan’s Island out here, so surely it’s more likely that it is our rates that have been doing the subsidising.

All coast residents should be made aware that once this 3 Part Plan is introduced, Council is investing an additional “user-pay” gate charge at our tips for everyone! This is ON TOP of what all Gold Coast residents presently pay in rates. Add this to the increased traffic issue that WILL be experienced at the suburban dumps and this becomes a “coast-wide” issue and not just one for us hillbillies in the bush.

There are two obvious issues to note here.
One – the imposition of an urban solution on a rural area: kerbside rubbish collection. Rural areas that have no kerbs, wild dogs and other feral animals to upset wheelie bins, sub-standard roads, issues of road safety with massive turning garbage trucks and inaccessible properties with >300 metre driveways with 45+ degree slopes.
Two – the closing of the rural Waste Transfer Centre (WTC) at Maudsland, the last standing rural WTC.

The third issue (and to my mind the most important) is the concept of the application of democracy in a reasonable form. GC Council has 4 Divisions west of the M1 (including rural areas) and 10 Divisions east of the M1. When voting on issues at Council, councillors tend to vote for their constituents (one could say this is fair). The reality is, the eastern block has10 votes, and a constant majority over the western block with 4 votes. Therefore, we have a constant majority. The Mayor gets a vote as well and tends to vote (historically) for the loser so he/she can say, “But I voted for you and you can’t call me surf-centric”.

This is not democracy. Majority rule is mob rule with rules, nothing more. Councils have a prescribed responsibility to supply rubbish and waste services to residents. This service is not a discretionary spend unlike cultural precincts and skate park shade cloth. Waste management/rubbish is a non-discretionary service and supply is mandatory.

Yet here we are. Residents are losing easy access to a rural WTS and after it goes, many will be off the grid with no collection service after an unwanted and unmanageable urban ‘kerbside’ collection system is imposed. And all with no community consultation or notice. I will leave it to other posters to explore the nitty gritty in the detail.

As a rural resident, my biggest fear about this is that it’s yet another attempt to urbanise the hinterland. Council’s new planning scheme, written by developers on the Mayor’s Technical Advisory Group, together with the State Government’s review of the South East Queensland Regional Plan, will almost certainly see more subdivision in our hinterland. The imposition of rubbish collection is just the first step.

Most driveways along Guanaba Creek Rd do not have a residential-style verge and therefore no-where to put a wheelie bin. Many are “hidden” driveways around blind corners. The road is windy, narrow and dangerous. A large truck stopping and starting along these roads would be very treacherous for everyone. We cannot leave the bins on the side of the road because it is too narrow.

Our quality of life has lowered. Our ONLY service – the privilege of taking of taking our OWN rubbish to the dump…has been lost – without ANY community consultation from our councillor! At least the Cr for Springbrook had decency to survey the community 3 times…not ours! From Guanaba we now have to take rubbish a 1hr round trip – PLUS 20mins waiting in line to unload! (tried it & it wasn’t a Sat).!

All this, because the council need the money for the developers and the cruise terminal.

moving to gold coast hinterland from melbourne about 8 years ago,one thing was noticed quickly,the gold coast including the hinterland was so clean compared to melbourne. we soon came to the conclusion it had a lot to do with proximity of the transfer stations and the fact that you don’t have to pay $20.00 to dump a trailer load of rubbish.i fear there will be more rubbish on the side of the road from rubbish being driven longer distances and not being secured properly.more rubbish dumped on the side of the road.and properties not being maintained as well as they currently are because of the difficulties being imposed on the residents by gccc.i hope my fears are unfounded but i doubt it.

i do not believe that these people are thinking off the hinterland or the gold coast best interest in mind and i believe they never have . i am not interested in the politic of what is happening but my freedoms they believe they can take away from not just me but all of use here in qld . so i put it to the qld people do we need this council or this government that choose there laws over the rights of the people . i say they need to go not when they think so but now . just so you understand why i want them gone is the fact that the council does not have any money to do what they are doing or not doing which is maintian the roads everything is pumped into surfer paradise if you can call it that the hinterland is where holiday makers are looking for we have the best of both world which we won’t have if they take the rubish tips away for as i have seen where i live people are going to dump there rubish anywhere and everywhere they can to save a few dollars which none of as have much of thanks to some government not just ours but the world governments that are trying to impload the economy sorry i digress which will make the place look like a 3rd world country and when all the people come to see the commenwealth game which we can’t afford who’s brillent idea was that where’s the money coming from how i get it close the tips add more for dumping and on fuel cause we will all need it to drive miles out of our way to dump our rubish which inturn people getting pulled over for over loading and speeding and whatever else you can come up with to rise the money to pay for the games i never asked nor was asked if i wanted to waste money on these games sorry not the point . but there other thing to such as a usless water purifying plant that cost millions to keep running or it will rust away thats one of the bigger mistakes they made but what about there pay rises they give each other for what how much money they can waste and don’t forget rudd giving away all the money not just a little but all the money howard got for selling almost everything off so now we have no money to buy any of it back . and add insult to injury we won the commenwealth games with what money are you going to use for and what lie are you going to use to say we will make it back as the interest rate alone will out weigh any money coming in . so sack them all and not when theres an election now before they makes use the next 3rd world country

The disposal of E waste has increased to great extent.And its recycling has really benefit companies for reuse and selling them in cheap prices.