By Jeremy Sollars
THE Southern Downs Regional Council claims it has taken steps to ensure Allora’s GrainX operation complies with conditions set down in its approval, following a meeting with the company last week.
As reported in the Free Times in our last two editions, Allora residents on Herbert Street, across the road from the GrainX Australia grain handling facility, have spoken of their lives as virtual “prisoners” in their own homes for the past five years.
Dust – including toxic chemical residue – and noise from the site have turned their daily lives into a living hell since the facility was approved by the Southern Downs Regional Council in 2011.
Health impacts from chemical use, sleep deprivation, stress and de-valued properties sum up life on Herbert Street and other nearby streets in “The Best Little Town on the Downs”.
There also concerns over the wellbeing of students at Allora State School and residents of The Homestead Southern Cross Care nursing home just a few hundred metres from GrainX on nearby Forde Street.
A council spokeswoman said GrainX had been directed to use a water truck “on all affected roads as a means of dust suppression and to treat dust nuisance”, including Herbert and South Street, and to “ensure that the street watering does not result in excessive water impacting on road verges or pooling in roadside drains”.
The spokeswoman said GrainX had also been ordered to have “suitable high order landscaping completed by Christmas in accordance with council’s directive” and to “strictly comply with the times specified in the directions notice issued by council regarding the onsite generator”.
“GrainX have been strongly encouraged to have urgent discussions with Ergon Energy to resolve onsite power problems,” the spokeswoman said.
