The Environmental Defender’s Office is pleased to announce that it has been given the green light to stay in the Northern Rivers and continue working with the community to protect the environment.

The EDO Northern Rivers opened in July last year as an 18-month pilot project funded by the NSW Public Purpose Fund.

EDO Northern Rivers solicitors Jessica Wood and Sue Higginson hit the ground running and it’s been non-stop ever since.

To date they have provided detailed advice and representation in approximately 40 public environmental interest matters as well as providing advice over the phone to 600 people. They have also run seven community education workshops.

Jessica said she was concerned to hear NSW planning minister Frank Sartor refer to community consultation as “just noise”, particularly as he had been exercising unprecedented discretion in terms of approving developments that had “very significant” environmental and social impacts.

“And without necessarily listening to the views of the local community and councils where those developments are taking place,” she said.

Meanwhile, she said Sartor had proposed an overhaul of the planning system, with details yet to be revealed.

She said the new bio-banking scheme was also of concern.

“It’ll come into place very soon and will allow people to trade credits in biodiversity,” she said. “If you want to carry out a development that is going to cut down trees or affect threatened species you can purchase credits that relate to somebody else’s property. The trouble is you lose localised biodiversity, which can be specific to some areas. And even endemic (found nowhere else). Whereas carbon is carbon is carbon. It doesn’t matter where it is.”

The fine print of the bio-banking scheme will be released soon and the Environmental Defender’s Office will be holding workshops to enable those people who are interested to write submissions about it.

For more information contact Jessica Wood on 6621 1012 or Sue Higginson on 6621 1013.