The council in a coal town facing an uncertain future is determined to force the developers of renewable energy and large-scale construction projects to leave behind a legacy of affordable housing.<\/p>\n
Muswellbrook Shire Council’s temporary workforce accommodation policy bans donga-style worker camps in favour of permanent accommodation that can be reused once a project ends.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Temporary workers are often housed in demountable housing known as dongas. (ABC News: Chris Lewis)<\/p>\n
The council is expecting almost 4,000 temporary workers to pass through in the next decade to work on renewable energy projects and the demolition of the retired Liddell Power Station.<\/p>\n
Mayor Jeff Drayton said integrating temporary workers into local life would be critical, so the policy also included a ban on any “wet mess” facilities for alcohol consumption.<\/p>\n
“A lot of the time, those people who live out of town in that donga-style accommodation \u2026 they don’t assimilate or come into town, so the town doesn’t get any financial benefit,” he said.<\/p>\n
“That’s not what we’re about here \u2014 \u00a0if we’re hosting them and they’re using our roads, they’re using all our facilities, our services, we see that the community should benefit.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Jeff Drayton says the policy is designed to ensure the community benefits from the influx of renewable projects. (ABC Upper Hunter: Courtney Yeandle)<\/p>\n
Affordable housing<\/p>\n
The council wants the villages built to house temporary workers to eventually be reused as affordable housing, aged care and tourist accommodation.<\/p>\n
Upper Hunter Homeless Support (UHHS) general manager Mary Spora said an increase in affordable housing stock was desperately needed.<\/p>\n
“Housing is a real issue in an area like Muswellbrook, where we have quite a transient workforce supporting the mines,” she said.<\/p>\n
“People who are looking for the more affordable housing are being forced out of the market.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mary Spora says there is a lack of affordable housing in Muswellbrook. (ABC Upper Hunter: Courtney Yeandle)<\/p>\n
UHHS helps people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless due to rising costs or lack of available rentals.<\/p>\n
According to Domain’s September rental report, rental prices in Muswellbrook have jumped by 50 per cent in five years, while data from SQM Research shows the rental vacancy rate is sitting at about 1 per cent.<\/p>\n
Ms Spora said the temporary workforce accommodation policy was a good example of how housing solutions should be worked into all kinds of discussions.<\/p>\n
“I think it is something that more councils need to look at, asking how [they can] influence the future of housing,” she said.<\/p>\n
“We haven’t got enough housing, so we need to change that. We need to do something different.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Muswellbrook’s economy is largely built on the coal industry. (ABC News: Jake Lapham)<\/p>\n
Question of cost<\/p>\n
The policy means renewable energy project developers will bear at least some of the cost of building permanent villages.<\/p>\n
The responsibility, including who supplies land for the villages, will be shared between the state government, the council and project developers on a case-by-case basis.<\/p>\n
The council said it would work with the NSW Planning Department and proponents during the development application assessment process.<\/p>\n
The plans agreed on would become part of the project’s development consent conditions.<\/p>\n
“If proponents aren’t prepared to accept those conditions from council, frankly they’re probably not proponents that we want working within our communities,” Cr Drayton said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Thousands of temporary workers are expected to pass through Muswellbrook Shire to work on renewable energy projects. (ABC News: Clint Jasper)<\/p>\n
Clean Energy Council advocacy and community engagement director Nathan Hart said the policy represented an exciting opportunity for renewable energy proponents.<\/p>\n
“Proponents are committed to leaving positive legacies in the communities they work in,” he said.<\/p>\n
“This includes implementing innovative housing solutions for their workforces.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mike Kelly says the intent of the policy is “certainly good”, but time will tell as to whether it is effective. (ABC Upper Hunter: Courtney Yeandle)<\/p>\n
Muswellbrook Chamber of Commerce president Mike Kelly said the policy was admirable but its flow-on effects were yet to be seen.<\/p>\n
“It’s fairly groundbreaking \u2026 I think the council should be congratulated on taking the initiative and the intent is certainly good,” he said.<\/p>\n
“It’s a matter of whether businesses [have] allowed for the cost of providing accommodation, whether major contractors and \u2026 their string of subcontractors have allowed for the cost of that.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The council in a coal town facing an uncertain future is determined to force the developers of renewable…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":267489,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[11756,46520,88216,156098,43,156097,44,8146,156095,156096,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-267488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-affordable-housing","tag-clean-energy-council","tag-construction-workers","tag-donga-ban","tag-headlines","tag-muswellbrook-shire-council","tag-news","tag-renewable-energy","tag-temporary-workers","tag-temporary-workers-accomodation","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267488\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}