By Jeremy Sollars
Saleyards committee says…
A PUSH has emerged to build a new livestock saleyards in Warwick estimated to cost $15 million – along with a suggestion the existing saleyards be demolished.
The inaugural meeting of the newly-formed Southern Downs Regional Council Saleyards Advisory Committee held in early December discussed the plan, with the committee in agreement that the current facility at the corner of McEvoy Street and Bracker Road is not large enough.
The Saleyards Advisory Committee – which replaces the former Saleyards Management Committee – is made up of deputy mayor Jo McNally, Cr Rod Kelly, Les Fraser of Frasers Livestock Transport, management committee chair Graham Kirkland, Andrew Williams of Elders and David McIvor of McDougall and Sons.
The minutes of the meeting reveal Mr Fraser proposed to the committee “the demolition of the current facilities and rebuilding of the site as per the Forbes and Parkes saleyards (in NSW)”.
Mr Fraser told the meeting there would be enough business in the area to support such a move and that the current saleyards are inadequate to cope with a forecast increase in livestock sales in Warwick.
The minutes then detail that council chief executive officer David Keenan asked Mr Fraser about the “proposed location of the new facility”, to which Mr Fraser replied there was “a suitable parcel of land adjacent to Frasers Transport Depot”.
It is understood Mr Fraser is referring here to the 80-acre former Warwick Enterprise Park on the Old Stanthorpe Road which Frasers Livestock Transport purchased earlier this year for an undisclosed sum from BWC Developments.
Mr Fraser told the committee that throughput at a new and bigger saleyards could be 2500 head of cattle and sheep a week, as well as goats, which are a growing domestic and overseas market.
Cr Kelly and Mr Williams are recorded in the minutes as expressing support for a new saleyards, while Cr McNally said any new saleyards should remain “a core business of the council”.
Mr Kirkland supported the project but said the existing saleyards should be retained and not demolished.
It is understood from the minutes that the council had already been considering calling for expressions of interest (EOI) from the private sector to take over management of the Warwick Saleyards, with the new ‘greenfield’ site proposed by Mr Fraser to now be included in the EOI.
The minutes record that Mr Keenan told the committee “various companies had expressed interest in operations” prior to the inaugural committee meeting.
Mr Keenan also advised that the Federal Government would be ‘the most likely source of possible funding” for a new saleyards but mayor Tracy Dobie, an observer at the meeting, also said public-private partnerships needed to be considered.
The minutes record that the EOI is to be further discussed at the next meeting of the Saleyards Advisory Committee to be held in late January or early February 2017.
David McIvor was elected as chairperson of the committee in his absence from the December meeting, with Cr McNally as acting chairperson.
The committee’s December discussions follow comments by Mr Keenan to the Free Times in October which hinted at “alternative management arrangements” for the Warwick Saleyards.
The Free Times asked Mr Keenan at that time if the council had any plans to privatise the saleyards, to which he replied that it was “unlikely that council would be able to sell the saleyards”.
“Rather, the opportunity would be based around the medium-term management of the facility,” Mr Keenan said in October.
“Consideration may be given to alternative management arrangements, but this would need to be endorsed by council and the incoming Saleyards Advisory Committee.”
The current Warwick Saleyards only received national accreditation in May of this year, with international accreditation still being sought.
The Central West Livestock Exchange on the Newell Highway just outside Forbes in NSW – seen nationally as state of the art – opened in 2006 when a brand new $10.4m cattle auction facility was completed. A $15m sheep auction facility was opened in late 2010 and $1.2m pig auction facility completed the project in April 2012.
Features include soft flooring, an automated drafting system, covered sales areas, feeding facilities in holding yards for special livestock sales, 24-hour surveillance, truck driver amenities and a six-bay high pressure truck wash.
