The rezoning of an area of land to be a 'heavy industrial zone' was passed through Narromine Council last week, the next step in a project proposal that has split the community.

Controversial from the get go, the Narwonah Renewable Energy and Circular Chemical Project (Narwonah waste proposal) drew large crowds at two public information sessions last December.

Despite Narromine Shire Council saying the project was a "once-in-a-lifetime" $500 million 'green energy' project", there were big concerns that the land would be used to establish an incinerator and a "regional rubbish tip" that would affect local residents through environmental impact, unwanted emissions and generally affect the lifestyle of the area.

At the time, Mayor Craig Davies attempted to put the emotive crowd at ease.

“There has been a lot of misinformation put out on social media, and you will find that out tonight," Cr Davies said. “This is not an incinerator; this is not the burning of waste, and we need to understand that from the very outset.”

Since the December meeting any possibility of an incinerator on site is no longer an option, a local spokesperson told Western Plains App, as the period to take up this option had lapsed.

Local community group speaks up

However, there are still plenty of unhappy locals who are raising their voices through the Narromine Shire Positive Change Community Group (NSPCCG). They say the decision at last week's council meeting attempts to force an irreversible change on the community, that has been identified as unsuitable by independent agencies and is considered invalid by the community.

NSPCCG are dissatisfied that the proposal was deferred at last month's council meeting where there was minimal background or documentation supplied and yet recommended to proceed at the most recent council meeting, with documentation running to 622 pages.

Concerns raised by NSPCCG are that claims of consultation with Local Aboriginal Land Council that are not supported and there is no business case for the proposed development.

They also say that there are risks that this will become a ‘White Elephant’ development as Inland Rail has no funding to proceed beyond Narromine at this stage and so the basis for industry development may not exist for the foreseeable future.

They other concern is that no community, landholder or householder consultation has been conducted.

Additionally, the NSPCCG consider the Narromine councillors to be 'unelected' as there was no election required at the last local government elections due to no excess of candidates.

While the topic is divisive in Narromine, the NSPCCG's claims that a large proportion of community consider the council decision invalid as 83% of the shire residents have called for an administrator to be appointed to council, have drawn some skepticism.

A local spokesperson informed Western Plains App that this number was not necessarily correct and was a percentage of respondents to a survey that NSPCCG distributed but was not necessarily indicative of the entire shire.

Narromine Mayor Craig Davies says his council are preparing to take advantage of infrastructure associated with the Inland Rail. IMAGE SUPPLIED

Council response

 Craig Davies, Mayor of Narromine Shire has quite a different take on the situation and gave responses to the issues raised by NSPCCG to the Western Plains App.

"Council are taking a proposal to Planning NSW to create a 100 hectare site and of which we've been given $9 million by the state government to do so," Clr Davies said. "We voted on the development going ahead with the logic that Inland Rail is a $31.4 billion infrastructure project that comes within six or eight kilometres of our town.

"What we are clearly trying to do is to take advantage of the infrastructure they are building there and turn it into the best possible outcomes that we can deliver to the shire of Narromine. Ernst and Young have estimated the likelihood of 200 jobs being created on this site over a period of time."

"The beauty of the Narwonah site is that it is right next to Inland Rail's materials distribution centre that they are building to handle the material that will go into constructing the rail line between Narromine and Narrabri. it is a perfect spot and council will largely inherit $70 million worth of infrastructure when the time comes when Inland Rail is operational."

Mr Davies said council had undertaken Indigenous consultation which reported nothing of Indigenous importance at the site. As for community consultation, Mr Davies said this will happen down the track.

"Council do not dictate the order in which this procedure happens. Community consultation happens a little bit down the track, we need to assemble all the facts first."