Coffs Clarence Local Area Command NSW Police

7.30 Friday 5th March – All welcome at the Bellingen Golf Club

ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOUR, THEFT & VANDALISM

The anti social behaviour and vandalism perpetrated by a small number of youth recently is an out of the ordinary ‘spike’ for Bellingen that has disrupted our community and lifestyle. Adults also contribute to this problem. It will only strengthen us as a community to acknowledge the issue, identify the contributing factors and then do everything we can to resolve it.

To this end the Bellingen Chamber of Commerce have invited Mark Holahan to address our community in a rare opportunity for all interested parties to put their concerns to a man in a position to make a difference.

Everyone is invited. You don’t have to be a member, you don’t even have to have a business and the Chamber welcomes attendance by youth representatives and parents alike. This is an opportunity for the whole community.

Mark’s position takes in the ‘big picture’ and focuses on the direction and support of officers in the field. He stresses the importance of communities and supports local police dealing with local issues by leaving them in local areas.

Mark Holahan began his career in 1979. He is a family man with four children and two grandchildren on the way. His entire career, with the exception of 2 years, has been spent in regional, rural NSW.

He has served as Commander since 1995 in Darling River (Bourke area), Barrier (Broken Hill area), Mid North Coast and Lower Hunter. Prior to taking up his post in Coffs Harbour in 2007 he was Director of Operations & Professional Standards Command. He has received numerous awards: National Medal 1995 -15yrs service, Commissioners Olympic Citation 2001, NSW Police Medal – 10 years service (2003) and in the 2007 Australia Day Honours List was awarded the Australian Police Medal (APM) for Distinguished Service.

Come and hear what is being done by the local police and engage in active question and answer time with Mark Holahan at the Bellingen Chamber of Commerce ‘Autumn’ Breakfast.

7.10 registration for 7.30 am start. $20 Chamber members, $25 non members.

Bookings essential ! RSVP Susan by Wed 3rd March coordinator@bellingenchamber.com.au

Guy also spoke at the official event, with Senator Michael Forshaw, marking the completion of the very smart, environmentally friendly, Toilet Facilities in Bellingen funded by RCLIP (Regional and Local Community Infrastructure Program).

Alexandra Careaga, of 1st Place Design and Chamber Executive member, provided an overview of Chamber activities to the Walk against Warming gathering last weekend. Some of the recent Chamber achievements are:

Tripled membership in last 18 months

Dr Hewitt Food & Tree Festival

Bellingen Business Directory

New website

Welcome to Bellingen Sign competition

Replace planter pots and rubbish bins in Bellingen CBD

Plant out eastern approach to Bellingen with publicly accessible edible food trees

Ongoing involvement in Waterfall Way Centre and Tourism Bellinger along with Dorrigo & Urunga Chambers

Ongoing involvement in EcoBello

Ongoing involvement in Our Harvest program (Community Supported Agriculture)

MEDIA RELEASE

Emission reduction target meeting recommends One Earth Living!

An intense and lively community meeting was held in Bellingen Uniting Church Hall on Saturday 29 August 2009 to provide a recommendation to the Bellingen Shire Council on a Community Emission Reduction Target.   The key outcome of the meeting was the recommendation that Council adopts a community goal of One Earth Living by 2015.  The current Australian average ecological footprint (how much land we need overall to sustain our lifestyle) is four earths!  So to get to the target of one earth living, Bellingen Shire residents would need to contribute to a reduction in ecological footprint of around 75%.

This target is proposed to be part of the Bellingen Shire Emission Reduction Program (BERP) which is aimed at reducing Council and the community’s greenhouse gas emissions through a five phase implementation process.  Adoption of emission reduction targets is Phase 2 of the BERP.

At the meeting, an initial suggestion for a community target of 2% per year on 2001 levels for the next ten years was discarded early on.  A participant stated, “Unless we choose a scientifically credible target, then we are choosing to fail”. The 2% per year target was regarded by the meeting as being too low based on what the scientific consensus recommends as well as lower than what a progressive community such as Bellingen Shire is capable of.  The difficulty of measuring community emission reductions (in terms of carbon dioxide equivalent) was also a key discussion point.

A suggestion was made that an ecological footprint assessment tool could be utilised to measure the community’s emissions. An individual’s ecological footprint is a measure of how many hectares of land it takes to support your current lifestyle, and considers things such as diet, the type and amount of travel, and the type of home you live in.  Ecological footprints for individuals are often expressed as the number of earths that it would take to support the current world population if everyone lived the way they do now.  An ecological footprint assessment is easily converted to emissions of carbon dioxide emissions.

Council is keen to receive further input from the community on the community emission reduction target of ‘One Earth Living by 2015’ or alternative recommendations and viewpoints on what Community Emission Reduction Target should be adopted. Please send your written thoughts to the Bellingen Shire Council’s Sustainability Officer by conventional mail or by email to ndenshire@bellingen.nsw.gov.au.

Further information on the proposed BERP and the outcomes of the Emission Reduction Target meeting can be found on Council’s website at www.bellingen.nsw.gov.au/environment.

Authorised by Mike Colreavy – General Manager                                    File No.:

Date:

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:            Nic Denshire

ALL COMMUNICATIONS TO BE ADDRESSED TO THE GENERAL MANAGER, PO BOX 117, BELLINGEN  NSW  2454, TELEPHONE (02) 66557300,  FAX (02) 66552310