Bega Valley Shire councillor calls local traffic committee 'a bit precious' after political intervention concerns raised

The LTC makes recommendations on traffic management particularly with regard to special events such as the Wanderer Festival.

The festival's move to Pambula Sporting Complex was on the agenda for the extraordinary meeting.

The statement which drew the ire of Cr Allen spoke of concerns about "political intervention" when the festival's move was being discussed.

READ MORE: Wanderer Festival moves to Pambula Sporting Complex

"Committee members raised concerns about allowing political intervention in the process of determination of an application on its merits when making recommendations to council," the statement in the business paper said.

Cr Allen asked "what the hell's that mean?"

Council's director assets and operations Ian Macfarlane said notification about the festival's move to Pambula Sporting Complex was received late.

"It was a late notice representation to the traffic committee without advance notice to Transport for NSW or the police," Mr Macfarlane said.

"Normally the committee is provided all the information prior to arriving here. The committee has an hour to make decisions. That information was not at hand. Representations were then made to them during the meeting.

"Several members of the committee were unhappy; it's not standard practise and they wanted it minuted," Mr Macfarlane added.

The representation had been made by the mayor, Russell Fitzpatrick.

Mr Macfarlane stressed it had made no difference to the outcome of the meeting.

"They're a bit precious aren't they," Cr Allen responded.

Cr Allen said he had been mayor for a good number of years in the past and couldn't count the number of times he had been approached to bring a matter to council.

"Our role is to promote the area, as councillors and mayor that is our role.

"I don't know that any committee has the right to put in public, a document like that," Cr Allen said adding he thought it was wrong.

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The LTC went on to state that "for a major event such as this, all relevant approvals and information should be provided to the committee in advance of the meeting to allow for proper scrutiny".

ACM asked council, prior to the extraordinary meeting what was meant by the comments and was told the LTC operates independently under delegation from Transport for NSW.

"As such it makes decisions based on a proposal's technical merits and its interaction with legislation, regulatory guidelines, public safety and Australian Road Rules. It is not the remit of the LTC to consider or make recommendation on any aspects of a proposal outside of these parameters," a council spokesperson said.

The LTC is primarily a technical review committee and is not a committee of council. It considers traffic management and special event proposals on local roads and reports within the Bega Valley Shire.

It includes a councillor or council officer, who acts as the meeting convenor, a representative from NSW Police Far South Coast Local Area Command, a representative from TfNSW (Transport for NSW) Southern Region and a representative of the NSW State Government's member for Bega.

It is a requirement for council to formally adopt the recommendations from the LTC prior to action being taken.

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