For those of you interested this is a copy of our letter that has been sent to the Rotary Club Scottsdale To the President of Rotary Scottsdale & all members, We are writing this e-mail in regards to the Dorset Rail Trail and the impact it will have on our business. Currently our land is used for a fully licensed & operating abattoir plus disposal sites. I am positive you understand what we mean by disposal sites and just how smelly they can become in the middle of summer, that’s lidded to help reduce the bad aromas. This (our) business, culls & supplies end product to 2 butcheries (which have managed to survive in the North East of Tasmania up until this threat), it also helps feed numerous local farmers & families, as we cull many of their animals privately ... The abattoir and our Butcher shop in Ringarooma supports THREE FAMILIES with employment, we also have children at the Ringarooma Primary School. We support many charities at home (Ringarooma) Bridport, Winnaleah, Branxholm, Pioneer, Derby & yes even Scottsdale....Lose the ABATTOIRS, LOSE THE BUTCHERY, lose another business in an already struggling community...This will also affect the McLennans Butchery at Scottsdale, as they will have to find an alternate abattoirs for their animals to be sent to, to be culled…… Being that the only options are at Longford or Devonport, the animals will be stressed by the extra travel time & the business will have to shoulder the extra costs of transporting their produce. Rotary Club of Scottsdale & their spokesman Robin Thompson acknowledge that our community is already struggling, this is in the same interview that mentions our business, (The Examiner Thursday Dec 26th) yet it seems that the certain loss of the Abattoirs (If the rail trail goes around our property) and the knock-on effect to our community is an acceptable loss to you! This is for a handful of mountain biking /walking tourists to generate income in the Scottsdale area... Currently this rail line is closed and isn’t a problem, if opened it will create a public liability issue for us that doesn’t exist at the moment. It will also offer (even fenced) opportunities for those with intent to cause harm to the meat industry, a way into our property, sight unseen, that isn’t available at the moment. I am sure you are aware of the abattoirs that was closed down without legitimate reason in Victoria, (the program aired a few months back on Landline) This is the sort of thing that we will be left wide open too, a screen or dropping the trail down over the far side, will not stop smells, sounds or for those determined enough, the sights of what we are doing. In all honesty a picture in the press of any animal being culled isn’t pretty, it doesn’t matter how well it is executed or how painless it is for them. It is also our opinion that having a tourist attraction surrounding 90% of this property is not indicative of good tourism management, as you have not taken into consideration what the abutting land (ours) is used for. If the trail goes ahead as planned without taking an alternative route, which may I point out we have shown alternative routes to you previously, it will impact on our viability to operate unhindered in the future…No-one wants to see the mess between the cow in the paddock to the steak on their plate.. Or smell the decomposing matter from this business. We are imploring you to intervene on this matter.. We have tried and tried on numerous occasions to have rational discussions with Mr. Robin Thompson (the chairperson of the working group within Rotary Scottsdale) all to no avail. He is determined to push through with ‘his’ visions for this trail & he is quite often quoted as saying that “we are being irrational and our fears are unfounded” or that “we are trouble makers that do not want the rail trail to succeed”. This couldn’t be further from the truth. As mentioned previously we have offered a number of alternative routes, one was going around back roads into Legerwood & the tree carvings and amenities, the other was to make a path along side the snake track for the use of the trail users. Both of which Mr. Thompson refused to give any serious consideration too. We have now come up with another plan, along with the help of president of Rotary Scottsdale Mr. Stephen Love. It has been suggested that a great alternative would be for the Snake Track to be turned into a local use only road & have it taken of all GPS maps for tourist use. This will act as a money saver to the council as there will be less traffic, therefore less upkeep. Also it would be safer for the trail users to traverse & all land holders including us would not be inconvenienced or threatened. But still Mr. Thompson wants to push through his original plan & wont even consider this option either. He still wants to put a planning application to Dorset Council to go around us using the Rail Corridor. Please consider not putting the application in as it stands & consider asking the council yourselves to make the Snake Track a local use only road, this will enable you to get to the trees at Legerwood and certainly will solve so many issues. You still have your Trail & we can keep our business safe for the future of our families & our community. Thank you for your time taken to read this e-mail voicing our very real concerns. We really appreciate your time & hope that we can work together to find a resolution to this very serious threat to our business. Sincerely Dean & Kim Oliver Owners & operators of the Legerwood Abattoirs & Ringarooma Butchery
Posted on: Sun, 19 Jan 2014 06:23:48 +0000
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