The Girls hard at work for the recent Dandaragan Bowling Club Dinner and presentation.
Great night by all, some awesome compliments from the President of the Bowling Club.
Much appreciated and makes running these functions all the more worthwhile.

A wedding party in last weekend, Bowling Function last night, Western Power group of 45 in next week to upgrade Dandaragan Power and a mine shut crew of 50 mid May.

Never boring around Dandaragan’s Redgum Village over this 4 week period. Bring it on,

We love it and so do our guests, apparantly 🙂

Local Dandaragan ladies lending a hand in the kitchen plus Gaylene’s sister and our niece from Perth. Many helpers certainly made the night a breeze and very successful.

Easter just around the corner, and yes in Dandaragan too and this year all the Redgum Village guests are taking the few days off.
This means the Redgum staff get to kick back and take a break from this past few weeks of being very busy.
With quite a mixture of guests in from the Potash group to the power line guys, a telecom dude, a road crew, mikes team and a couple other individuals with the local school and water authority. 

Sounds like a normal Redgum Village booking list.

Had a group for Easter cancel and as its turned out, not such a bad thing as we need to catch up on a few chores and chill for a day or two.

This is a common site in the car park these days, great bunch of guys and glad we can help them out. All sub contracted to Western Power.

Have a great Easter and catch you back on Tuesday 🙂

The Dandaragan Skyline sky-show, what a crazy night in Dandaragan and Moora tonight

PROPOSED FREE RANGE POULTRY FARM AAA Eggs

PROPOSED FREE RANGE POULTRY FARM LOT 4 MIMEGARRA ROAD CATABY

 

Applicant: AAA Egg Co Pty Ltd & Springton Nominees

File Ref: Development Services Apps / Development

Applications / 2014 / 38

Date: 15 August 2014

 

 

PROPOSAL

The proponent is seeking planning approval for a free range poultry farm located on Lot 4 Mimegarra Road, Cataby. The application is required to be determined by the Regional Development Assessments Panel (Wheatbelt JDAP).

 

BACKGROUND

The subject development is to be located on portion (approx. 400 acres) of lot 4 Mimegarra Road (approx. 741 Ha) owned by Springton Nomimees. The proposed site for the Poultry Farm is in the north east corner of the lot adjoining Mimegarra Road. Land to the north and west of the subject lot is unallocated crown land, The land to the south and east is general rural use with a small scale poultry abattoir proposed at Lot 5 Mimegarra and existing carrot farms to the south west.

The proposal consists of:

·         15 egg laying sheds approximately 128m x 17m and height of 5m

·         3 pullet rearing sheds approximately 18m x 13m

·         2 silos approximately 8m high.

·         2 managers residences

·         Workers accommodation and recreational facilities

·         Coolroom / workshop

The maximum number of laying hens on site will be 300,000.

The objective for ‘Rural’ zoned land in Local planning Scheme no.7 is

 

Rural Zone

To provide for a range of rural activities such as broadacre and diversified farming so as to retain the rural character and amenity of the locality, in such a way as to prevent land degradation and further loss of biodiversity.

A free range poultry farm fits under the land use “animal husbandry – intensive” Under the Scheme this is defined as:

“animal husbandry – intensive” means premises used for keeping, rearing or fattening of pigs, poultry (for either egg or meat production), rabbits (for either meat or fur production) and other livestock in feedlots.

Agriculture Intensive, Agroforestry, and Animal Husbandry -Intensive are “D” uses (discretionary approval) in a Public Drinking Water Supply Areaa where Council will have due regard to the potential impact on groundwater quality.

 

5.22 PROTECTION OF WATER SOURCES

5.22.1 Public Drinking Water Source Reserves

Public Drinking Water Reserves are located close to existing townsites and are covered by Water Source Protection Plans prepared by the Water and Rivers Commission (now Department of Environment and Conservation – DEC). Guidelines are available from DEC which establish whether a proposed use is compatible, incompatible or could be approved with conditions to protect water quality and supply.

In considering any development within a Public Drinking Water Source Area (PDWSA) Council will have due regard for the potential impact on water supplies and the compatibility of the proposed use. Any development in conflict with the DEC guidelines must be a referred to DEC for comment to ensure water quality protection of the public drinking water reserves.

 

5.22.2 Groundwater Areas

Groundwater protection areas have been established by the Water and Rivers Commission (now DEC) known as the Jurien Groundwater Area and Gingin Groundwater Area. Landowners and developers are required to obtain a licence prior to the construction of a bore or well on any property for groundwater extraction except for stock or domestic purposes. The proposed poultry farm is located in the Bassendean soil precinct.

The Department of Regulation, Department of Parks and Wildlife (both the previous DEC) and Department of Water have been consulted on this application. The Department of Water have provided initial comment, and are presently working on providing additional more detailed comment.

Just happened to be driving on the Brand Hwy from Dandaragan Redgum Village to Perth on wednesday and saw plenty yellow vest guys hanging around waiting on the road side for something to arrive.
On the way back to Dandaragan driving past the same spot, I assume this is what they were waiting for:

Quite cool I thought, certainly makes flying a chopper an interesting sport.

Hers another shot.

Life at the Dandaragan Redgum Village has been fairly quiet for the last few days, so we are utilising the time to do some marketing.
With govt tenders and funding on the quiet side we need to be looking more to the private sector.
We had a general look around at what projects are on the table thru the Dandaragan Shire and was surprised at how many were being scheduled for development and quite a few for extension periods.
Looks like the major wind and solar projects are still on the radar, but just awaiting the right time to launch ahead.
Once the Transmission Line going thru Dandaragan from Perth to Eneabba is completed I am sure we will see a flurry of activity.
Also interesting to read about the gas project near Badgingarra. Maybe something will happen there, time will tell.
The phosphate news in the Dandaragan region is still positive and activity surrounding that is still moving forward.

It seems to be a wait and see approach at the moment and when decisions are made I think we will see a flurry of activity within the Dandaragan Shire.
If we hear of something interesting we will post it on our Dandaragan Projects page, hopefully that might help a company or business find out about prospective opportunities.

Just for something different here is a pic of Spring 🙂

Is it just me or is the whole dam country in slow down mode? I read this just yesterday.

The latest unemployment numbers released last week were disappointing to say the least: Australia’s unemployment rate jumped to a 10 year high and is now on par to when the GFC unfolded

Now, unlike then though we don’t have a mining boom to insulate our economy or a government predisposed to spending our way to prosperity.

I noted with interest that for the first time since 2007 our unemployment rate of 6.4% is higher than the US (6.2%).

We are now on par with the UK, but their employment situation is improving whereas ours is worsening.

Peering behind the headline stats makes for pessimistic analysis, especially if you’re 15-24 years old as youth unemployment is presently 14.1%.

Apparently the culprit is a slump in part time work opportunities, but whatever the cause, the story behind the story is that the Aussie economy seems to be on the skids and the Federal government appears bereft of strategies on how to stop the rot. What ideas they do have have been poorly received by the public and aren’t going to be easily actioned as the Senate is now dominated by headline grabbing idealists.

While we remain in this political deadlock and vision vacuum (which started during the Gillard – Greens alliance) it’s hard to see much of a silver lining to gloomy economic cloud hanging over our heads.

When I read this I thought hmmm, maybe I should be grateful for the business we have and concentrate on marketing to the companies and businesses that we have had an association with and just nurture that relationship.
No hard selling just keeping in touch to be ready for when the cycle does turn and our political status decide that Australian unemployment is a problem. Only then will they relaese funding for much needed projects that keep our economy positive and human beings occupied. As in going to work and feeling pride and satisfaction for what we can achieve in the work place. Plus building a better Australia.

Full copy of the article I have referred to is here by a person I have a huge respect for.

Steve McKnight   http://www.propertyinvesting.com/growth-warning-emerging

The new financial year is well under-way here in Dandaragan, Just like everywhere else, and racing away at that.
Business is slowly picking up at the Dandaragan Redgum Village as we expect once the financial year is cleaned up and new funding becomes available for new projects.

Not all projects in Dandaragan are new as some are gaining momentum and as more funding becomes available.

Looks like the Transmission line from north of Perth to Eneabba via Dandaragan may be back on track after the incident a couple months back. We wish them well and hope they get a hassle free run from here on.