AUGUST 24, 2017
YOUR INDEPENDENT COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER
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Misleading information allowed Mangrove Mountain landfill to grow
ICAC to investigate Central Coast Council and Gosford Council over landfill
C A photo from a September 2012 inspection of the landfill
F
ormer Gosford Council employee and independent candidate for the Gosford West Ward in the Central Coast Council election, Mr Gary Chestnut, said it was essential that the NSW Government held an inquiry into how the Mangrove Mountain landfill morphed from a small golf course remodelling project into an improperly regulated dump the size of a regional waste facility. Mr Chestnut remains subjected to a confidentiality agreement he entered into with Gosford Council as an outcome of a constructive dismissal case, so he is only able to comment on matters that are in the public domain. As a result of extensive Government Information
Public Access (GIPA) searches, documents have been placed on the public record that enable Mr Chestnut to provide more information on issues that, he said, need to be properly explored by a full commission of inquiry. According to Mr Chestnut, the former Gosford Council’s decision to enter mediation with landfill operator Verde Terra, instead of prosecuting the company in the Land and Environment Court, was based on incomplete and incorrect information from both the EPA and from members of Council’s own staff. Mr Chestnut said that whilst employed by Gosford Council, he had recommended against approval of the original DA for the golf course remodelling. Because the original DA was for clean fill, no leachate barrier was required. Over time, from as early as 2001, the EPA made
amendments to the Mangrove Mountain Landfill’s licence conditions and expanded the types of waste allowed. Mr Chestnut said a leachate barrier and leachate collection system were required from 2003 but were not installed until 2009. A leachate barrier and leachate protection system should protect potentially contaminated leachate from the landfill leaking into the aquifer located below the landfill or flowing into the surrounding environment and waterways. Central Coast Council has refused to release a 2005 compliance report, that Mr Chestnut has seen, and that documented the landfill’s “compliance and non-compliance” with each condition of consent. From the early 2000s until 2011, Mr Chestnut had no direct involvement with
managing Council’s conditions of consent at Mangrove Mountain Landfill. In December 2011, he received a letter from the NSW Office of Water stating that the Mangrove Mountain landfill was non-compliant. He directed the letter to Council’s then manager of education and compliance and senior compliance officer, who also had due regard to the 2005 compliance report. In April 2012 the senior compliance officer informed both the NSW Office of Water and the waste operator that the site was operating within its consent. Mr Chestnut said he believed the senior compliance officer’s interpretation of the conditions of consent that Council had applied to the site were “grossly incorrect”.
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ISSUE 165
entral Coast Council has confirmed that it, and the former Gosford Council, have been referred to the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC). The referral has been made by the NSW Shadow Minister for the Environment, Ms Penny Sharpe, following the damning allegations made in the ABC 4 Corners report on Monday, August 7, in relation to the mismanagement of a landfill at Mangrove Mountain and illegal dumping at Spencer. Shadow Minister for the Central Coast, Mr David Harris, said Gosford Council had originally referred itself to ICAC via then CEO, Mr Paul Anderson. “Now Penny Sharpe has referred Gosford Council and Central Coast Council to ICAC,” Mr Harris said. “Given what was exposed by 4 Corners, the Central Coast people deserve to have a thorough investigation into what was Council’s role in it,
whether they be individuals or the organisation,” Mr Harris said. “People are up in arms that their water supply could have been put at risk,” he said. In a written statement, Central Coast Council said: “Council is aware of reports that the NSW Opposition has reported the former Gosford Council to ICAC, as a result of a program aired on ABC TV. “Council is already undertaking its own internal review of the former Gosford Council files and records. “Council will cooperate fully should ICAC launch an investigation. “Because the matters have now been referred to ICAC Council will be making very limited comment from this time onwards,” the statement said. Source: Interview, Aug 10 Central Coast Council media Interview, Aug 10 David Harris, Shadow Minister for the Central Coast Media statement, Aug 10 Central Coast Council media Jackie Pearson, journalist
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