Weed control came under the microscope at the March meeting of Mitchell Shire Council following the tabling of a report on weed management activities in the Shire.
The report was prepared following a request at the December 2023 Council meeting that Council officers provide a detailed report and evaluation on current weed control practices across the Shire, identifying areas of most concern and methods in use to improve the situation and the level of success achieved.
However not all councillors were happy with the report.
Cr Chisholm said that he was disappointed with the report, saying that he was looking for innovative ways on implementing weed control in the future.
“The report does not do this. I am disappointed with this report, we need to identify ways of engaging landowners,” he said.
While the report outlined future plans to improve weed control across the shire and the level of success residents should expect, councillors expressed concerns that it did not go far enough.
Cr Eldridge added to Cr Chisholm’s comments saying that very little is done for the environment in Mitchell Shire.
Since the Mitchell Shire weed local law was introduced in September 2022 there have been 57 weed reports referred to Council’s Community Amenity Department for investigation.
For the same time period Council’s Environment and Sustainability Department received 141 customer requests relating to weeds.
Almost one third of these were requests for weed information such as identification and control techniques, other enquiries included reports of weeds on council managed land, crown land and privately owned land.
