Mayor Chris Bilkey reminded council the debate, and eventual vote, was not in relation to the abattoir itself. It was simply about reclassifying the land.
The planning proposal for the micro abattoir was endorsed by council in November last year.
Cr Geoff Wise, in his return to council after a brief period on the sidelines, said he felt like he had voted on the land reclassification ‘‘a dozen times’’.
There was general acknowledgement among councillors that they should do whatever they could to hasten the project.
‘‘It will create jobs, it is really needed,’’ Cr Wise said.
‘‘Everyone will have some sort of beef, no-one wants a sewerage farm next to them.
‘‘But let’s do this and get it over with.’’
Cr Tom Weyrich had several questions, including who actually owned the land.
‘‘There seems to be conflicting information,’’ he said.
Director of planning and environment Rob Croft said the land was owned by council when this matter first came before council, when it agreed to be the project manager to enable the co-operative to get government funding.
‘‘The funding required the land to be in council’s name,’’ he said.
Cr Weyrich said he was not against the abattoir, but held some concerns about matters related to the project.
He queried the reduced time frame, from 28 to 14 days, for submissions to be made to the public hearing.
Mr Croft said it was a decision of primary industries to reduce the time of submissions.
Cr Weyrich said he agreed with Cr Wise to a point.
‘‘I am just about over this, but we need to deal with it and get it right,’’ he said.
Cr Neil Gorey said the land in question could potentially be used for wheat bunkers.
‘‘This is rural based land,’’ he said.
‘‘Do we just sit on this land and refuse to develop it?
‘‘It is community based land, we need to do something with it.
‘‘It can’t remain as a vacant block that we mow once a week.’’
The Barham facility is classed as a micro abattoir because the level of product that goes through the facility does not require significant regulations.
The motion to re-classify the land was carried unanimously.
