News

22 March 2018

The start of work on a major upgrade of Forest Road, has prompted concerns about the removal of trees this week.

Orange City Council's Manager of Corporate and Community Relations Nick Redmond said arguments about saving trees simply don't cover the other issues the council must address :

"In any major project such as this, Orange City Council takes the environmental and community impact of a project very seriously, as it balances the community’s need for safe, efficient roads. The council was upfront with the community about the impact of the project, including the loss of trees, issuing a media release and publishing an online article.

"The Council also needs to ask whether the road needs upgrading? Does driver and pedestrian safety need to be improved? Do we need to improve parking at the city's busiest sporting precinct? Do we need to improve access to the existing hospital and the proposed private hospital? Simply arguing to save trees doesn't cover the other issues that Council must address.

"As the Forest Rd upgrade was designed, each of the trees in the path of the works was assessed. On the eastern side of the road, outside the Brabham boundary fence, there were a number of planted Eucalypts that were about 40 to 50 years old. It was found that these trees weren’t old enough to contain the hollows used by superb parrots for nesting. It was found that these trees would be badly impacted in future by the construction of a car park. Tree roots would be impacted and water flow would be affected.

"On the Brabham side of the fence there is a corridor of more than 170 trees, in places three trees deep, which provides a significant shade for people using the sports ground and potential habitat for birds.

"On the western side of the road the professional assessment found a number of trees were much older and were part of remnant vegetation. This assessment resulted in a number of trees being preserved in the original design.

"Because the road is being widened, a table drain has to be moved further to the west and a number of trees were in the way.

"The process of design also leaves room for adjustments as work begins. 38 was always the maximum number of trees to be removed.

"As work began this week, the contractor determined the exact location of a number of underground services alongside the drain, such as communications cables and sewer lines.

"Because this level of detailed information is now known, it’s been decided that an additional four remnant trees can be kept. The future of another four trees will be determined later in the project depending on how close they are to services.

"The loss of trees for a clear community benefit should be seen against the backdrop of Orange City Council’s good record in creating habitat for wildlife such as the superb parrot. Nearby at Gosling Creek, around 20 nesting hollows for superb parrots have been created in recent years.

"Alongside Bloomfield Rd, very old tree trunks with the sort of very deep hollows that superb parrot love, have been erected on site. At nearby Hinton Reserve and Black Sallee Reserve more than 70 nesting boxes have been installed to provide habitat for wildlife."

TRACKED: The team at Canbolas Family Pet Hospital are working with Council to help get your pet home safely.

POUND: These two cats were taken to the council's pound facility because they were not microchipped.

The region’s students are invited to take a seat at the dinner table for an 1860s family feast, and imagine opening a takeaway box of a millennial makeshift meal, handle centuries old cooking equipment and investigate fridges before electricity.

Orange Regional Museum’s exhibition Paddock to Plate, A history of food and wine in Orange and district, which opens in April, has a hands- on education program targeted at students from Kindergarten to year 11.

Orange Mayor Reg Kidd said students would use objects their grandparent’s might have used to cook with and investigate how evolving technology changed how people ate and worked the land.

“The education programs are one of the most important aspects of our regional museum,” Cr Kidd said.

“During the last exhibition, we had 1,800 students participate in a workshop and we’d love to double that number this time around.

“The feedback we had from teachers during the workshops was really positive and the highlight was the hands on learning experiences.

“Kids picked up objects, played with them, used them and really got into details of how the objects worked.”

Orange City Council’s Services Policy Committee Chair Cr Kevin Duffy said the programs developed during the planning of the new exhibition directly related to the current school curriculum.

“We’re specifically targeting kindergarten and Year 1 and Year 2 science classes, Year 1 to 5 history and geography classes and Year 11 food and technology classes,” Cr Duffy said.

“Each workshop is designed for each class and will follow and enhance the learning in the classroom.”

Some of the exhibition highlights designed with schools in mind, include an interactive kitchen where students can see the difference and the similarities of everyday life in the past and compare it to their own.

The kitchen activity is enhanced by a multimedia installation on a tabletop where students can ‘join us for dinner’ from the 1860s to the millennium.

Indigenous cultural education also plays an important role in this year’s schools offering with cultural engagement days running each term.

During the Indigenous engagement days Indigenous educators will run workshops on basket weaving, bush tucker and storytelling.

A special teachers’ preview of the exhibition will be held on Friday 6 April, 4pm-5pm. Contact the museum to book a place.

To discuss opportunities for your class or group contact Jessica Dowdell, Public Engagement and Education Officer at museum@orange.nsw.gov.au or phone 02 6393 8444.

LEARNING: Children enjoying a school holiday workshop during the Journeys exhibition.

12 March 2018

Quick work by Orange City Council’s water, roads and concrete crews had a badly damaged section of the Mitchell Highway back in action in around 36 hours.

The southbound section of Woodward Street was cut between March and Byng streets on Saturday afternoon when water from a broken trunk main burst through the roadway. Crews were quickly on the scene to discover the break was in a 300 mm water main. Traffic control crews were called in to divert traffic around the scene while northbound traffic was unaffected.

Orange Mayor Reg Kidd said the crews did a great job to respond to the potential emergency.

“It turned out the break was in a trunk main that takes water from reservoir to reservoir,” Cr Reg Kidd said. “Pipes like that don’t supply houses directly, so while there may have a been a drop in water pressure, no houses were without water altogether.”

“The crew were working in a foot of water about a metre and a half below the street level. They did a fantastic job and had the new section of 300 mm pipe in place by midnight Saturday.”

“The section of the road that was damaged by water was more than 20 metres long. Road crews were brought in to back fill the hole with gravel and get it ready for sealing.

“It worked out well that a hot mix contractor was due to start work re-sealing in William Street on Sunday night," CR Reg KIdd said. "That crew was diverted to instead add a layer of hot-mix to Woodward Street.

“To have a hole of that size in a major road was a real problem, but then to have traffic back on the highway by 5am on Monday morning was a tremendous effort by our council staff and I’d like to thank them for their hard work.”

What is the change?

Previously the RSPCA accepted stray animals that were taken to the William St depot by rangers or member of the community.

The RSPCA advised council of a change in policy in April last year. From Monday 5 March strays can no longer be taken to the RSPCA, and the council has developed a new system for dealing with strays involving a local vet clinic.

Which vet clinic is involved?:

Canobolas Family Pet Hospital (6362 6991)

Opening Hours :

• Mon – Fri : 8.30 am – Fri 5.30pm
• Sat : 9 am – 4pm
• Sun : 11m – 3pm

I have found a stray dog/cat. What should I do now?

You should contact the vet and make arrangements to deliver the animal to the clinic during their normal opening hours.

If you are able to keep the stray dog/cat safely until you can deliver it, that would be best way forward. If you can’t take it to the vet clinic, you should ring the council during business hours and a ranger will collect it.

I have lost my dog/cat. How can I find out if it’s been found and taken to a local vet?

Staff at the vet clinic will check the animal’s micro-chip. If the owner’s name and contact details are up to date, they will make contact with the owner.

If the ranger collects the animal from a resident, the ranger will check its micro-chip details and make contact with the owner, if the animal’s details are up to date.

One of the new developments will be that images of all stray dogs/cats will be posted on a new Facebook page. Reuniting Orange's Pets Owners can then contact council and make arrangements to collect their pet. Depending on whether or not it has a micro-chip, there may be fees before the animal can be returned to the owner.

I have a dog /cat I want to surrender. What do I do?

Owning a pet is a serious responsibility. If you can no longer look after the pet, it is still your responsibility to find a solution to this dliemma, such as finding another owner.

If you own a pet which you are no longer able to take care of, contacting the RSPCA may be one way forward.

The RSPCA continues to have a role with animal cruelty issues and animal welfare issues.

If you want to report a case of animal cruelty, contact the RSPCA.

What will happen to stray dogs/cats which are taken to the vet or collected by rangers?

Once vet staff or rangers have checked an animal’s micro-chip details and made attempts to contact the owner, the dog/cat will be taken from the vet clinic by a ranger to a privately run boarding kennel in Orange where it will be kept until its future is determined. There is no public access to this facility.

Orange City Council complies with state government animal welfare regulations covering how long a stray animal will be kept. An animal without an ID chip will be kept for 7 days. An animal fitted with an ID micro-chip will be kept for 14 days.

Further attempts will be made before that deadline expires to contact the owner, including posting photographs on the new Facebook page, that’s aimed at re-uniting Orange’s lost pets.

If the owner has not collected the animal by that deadline, efforts can then be made to re-home the animal.

If those efforts are unsuccessful , the animal will be euthanased humanely by a vet.