Apparently the plan to turn the Tony Clarke stadium into a "Neighbourhood Safer Place" was voted down 5 to 4 at a Macedon Ranges Shire Council meeting on Wednesday (Sept 28th), so it won't be going ahead without a lot more argument.
No details yet, but it doesn't sound good.
If you want the NSP, contact your local Macedon Ranges Shire councillor and express your support for it.
The minutes of the meeting should appear on the MRSC web site in a few days, so we might find out more then.
No details yet, but it doesn't sound good.
If you want the NSP, contact your local Macedon Ranges Shire councillor and express your support for it.
The minutes of the meeting should appear on the MRSC web site in a few days, so we might find out more then.
Macedon’s Neighbourhood Safer Place (NSP)
ReplyDeleteTwo years ago the Victorian Government endorsed the Royal Commission’s recommendation that a NSP should be established at Macedon.
Following a comprehensive site evaluation and employing the latest scientific methods, Fire Authorities established the scope of works required to transform the Tony Clarke stadium into a NSP. The Victorian Government approved and agreed to fund the project. A project manager was appointed, work was scheduled to commence on 1 October and the project was due to be completed before the end of this year.
The project was endorsed by the Emergency Management Planning Committee, council press releases appeared in local newspapers and then the project went to council for formal approval on 28 September. However 5 councilors voted to reject the project on the grounds that the proposed NSP is “not safe enough”. None of these 5 is qualified to comment on the scientific integrity of the project. However by rejecting it they are asserting that the bushfire scientists who specified the scope of works are incompetent. Furthermore they are depriving Macedon of its NSP for at least another year.
A bushfire can arrive at any time of the day or night and a person’s chances of survival inside a fortified NSP are 10 times greater than if caught outside in the open. Bushfire fuel loads are the highest on record and Macedon’s long overdue NSP is needed now, before the threat becomes a reality.
NSP Misunderstandings
ReplyDeleteThe rejection of the project to convert Tony Clarke Stadium into a Neighbourhood Safer Place (NSP) is
due to misunderstandings of the NSP concept by the five councilors.
The Neighbourhood Safer Place was a new concept that evolved out of the Black Saturday bushfires and
is one of the key recommendations of the Royal Commission. Recommendation #4 states that people
should not be discouraged from seeking refuge in an NSP if they have no better options available to
them.
Both Joan Donovan and Neil Manning assert that there is “no safe place in Macedon” and therefore
Macedon residents should seek refuge elsewhere, eg, Gisborne. The main point of the NSP concept
is that a place of last resort is located in the threatened neighbourhood so that residents who find
themselves with no escape route can seek refuge in the local NSP. A bushfire refuge in Gisborne won’t
save the lives of trapped Macedon residents. The State Government endorsed the Royal Commission
recommendation for a NSP in Macedon.
Furthermore their assertion that everyone should be elsewhere on days of extreme fire danger is
unrealistic. A bushfire can arrive unexpectedly, at any time of the day or night and there will always be
some people who are caught out; thus the need for NSPs in high risk towns like Macedon.
Henry McLaughlin’s comment on the Channel 9 News that “near enough is not good enough” implies
that the Tony Clarke Stadium is not a suitable place for a NSP. However the emergency management
authorities disagree. Bushfire experts have carried out a thorough evaluation of the site and specified
the Scope of Works that will ensure that the CFA’s criteria for NSPs are satisfied, ie, a maximum
allowable radiant heat flux of 10 kw/m2 impacting on a building.
Bushfire shutters are one of a number of modifications, specified in the works program that will upgrade
the stadium as a NSP. Recent CSIRO tests confirm that installation of steel roller shutters over glass
windows and doors provide complete protection to a maximum radiant heat flux of 29 kw/m2.
At the completion of the project, before the building is designated a NSP, the CFA and MEMPC will
assess the stadium’s BAL rating which is expected to significantly exceed the minimum requirement,
thereby providing a substantial inbuilt safety margin in the fortification of the Tony Clarke Stadium.
This means that a person’s chance of surviving a bushfire inside the fortified stadium is 10 times greater
than if caught out in the open.
Henry Juke’s concerns that “the Council will carry the can if something goes wrong and lives are
lost” are spurious because there is no issue of Council liability. On the other hand, if there is loss
of life because Macedon residents have been deprived of an NSP, those responsible could be held
accountable.
The lesson to be learnt from the Macedon NSP fiasco is:
ReplyDelete"Don't elect councillors who are incapable of understanding the issues that need to be resolved in the best interests of the people they represent"
Half of the current councillors can be relied upon to do the right thing, after they have exhausted all other possibilities!
Is it a coincidence that 5 of the 6 east/west ward councillors rejected the NSP because of their concerns for the welfare of the south ward Macedonians?
ReplyDeleteWhereas the 3 south ward councillors decided a NSP IS in our best interests.