Together, we achieved 5,000 submissions being lodged

THANK YOU & UPDATE

We just wanted to send you all a quick update and a sincere thank you for the important part YOU have each played in supporting the Say No To Blantyre Farms In Harden campaign, and standing up for thousands of pigs exploited in intensive animal agriculture.

After a mammoth effort by every single person, the public exhibition period and opportunity to lodge a submission concluded at 5 PM, Monday 18 May.

Hilltops Council has now confirmed in their media release that around 5,000 submissions were lodged in response to the Blantyre Farms development proposal for a large-scale intensive piggery in the Harden area. We're confident that the vast majority of these submissions were objections from caring and compassionate people like you.

NEXT STEPS

Because of the technical complexity of this DA and the involvement of several NSW State Government Agencies during the assessment process, it will be some time before we can determine precisely, the next steps.

Hilltops Council's planning staff are now reviewing, logging and copying each submission. Council will forward a copy of all submissions to the Applicant (Blantyre Farms), to facilitate their right of reply. As this DA is both a Designated and Integrated proposal under the NSW Environmental Planning & Assessment Act and requires several license approvals, Council will also forward a copy of each submission to the following NSW State Government Agencies for further assessment and consideration of:

• An environment protection license from the NSW environment Protection Authority under the provision of the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997

• Approval for the use of groundwater from the NSW Natural Resources Access Regulator under the Water Management Act 2000.

• An Aboriginal Heritage Impact Permit from NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974.

The NSW State Government Agencies have a 21 day time-frame to respond to Council from the date they receive the public submissions via the NSW Planning Portal. 

Only when we know the responses from the NSW State Government Agencies, can we then determine the ongoing assessment path for the Blantyre Farms DA and further action we need to take together. We will however keep you all updated at that time.

Let's keep working together and supporting each other for the piggies!

The Say No Team