Wednesday May 22, 2024
Volume 39 No. 17
$2 inc. GST
The Cobar Weekly A new Canbelego drilling program Pg 2
Long day care funding for Cobar Pg 2
Funding to recruit more teachers Pg 4
Cobar BioHub expected to be operating next year Another local industry that will create an ment process and a Carbon Projects presenta- portive of the project which can make better estimated 50 jobs and make good use of tion from Decarbonisation Solutions Austral- use of residents’ and farmers’ land. Invasive Native Scrub (INS) is expected to ia’s business development general manager, Mr Vlatko said Council also welcomes the commence next year. Rhys Maughan. opportunity of a brand new and innovative Plans to establish Cobar’s BioHub were dis- Cobar Shire Council general manager Peter industry that will make a difference to the cussed at a public information session at the Vlatko told the meeting that Council is sup- town and boost the local economy. Cobar Bowling & Golf Club on Thursday. The BioHub facility will process INS vegetation sourced from surrounding agriculture land and utilise all aspects of the input material for processing into goods for sale and export. A presentation by Cobar BioHub’s managing director Mark Glover outlined how the idea of the BioHub began, its journey and progress to the present day, the Invasive Native Scrub (INS) problem and proposed solutions. The project’s development manager Peter van Herk spoke about the trial they conducted in November last year and laid out the removal and landscape restoration services the project would offer local landholders. Mr van Herk, who has a background in natural resource management and experience as a business development consultant and coach, said the project is now in its final contractional and planning stages. “We’re already talking directly to people, and people are knocking on our doors,” Mr van Herk told The Cobar Weekly. He said they have also been working with Local Land Services and landholders working out how to interpret Property Vegetation Plans (PVPs) and what can and can’t be done. “But importantly it’s not the PVP plans, it’s the property owners farm plan and what you want to do with your property,” Mr van Herk Cobar Shire Council general manager Peter Vlatko with Cobar BioHub’s managing director Mark Glover, harvesting manager Joe Neate and development manager Peter van Herk along told the meeting. The session also included a presentation from with Decarbonisation Solutions Australia business development general manager Rhys Maughan AECOM environmental professional Jessie and AECOM environmental professional Jessie Meyers at Thursday’s Cobar BioHub public Meyers on the Environmental Impact Assess- consultation session at the Cobar Bowling & Golf Club.