A “non-designated development” on the Grawin mineral lease.

EXISTING illegal businesses on the opal fields can become legitimate, only after they are given a  Western lease.
Walgett Shire Council’s meeting on Monday tabled a letter from Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Natural Resources (DIPNR) asking whether it would support the granting of Crown Lands licences to the businesses.
DIPNR was responding to a request by the Glengarry Grawin Sheepyards Miners Association (GGSMA) that it make a decision about some form of tenure for long-standing merchants on the opal fields.
Businesses include the Grawin store and social club, the Glengarry Hilton and an arts and crafts store, the Sheepyards Inn and Nexo Engineering - some of which had been operating for over 30 years, according to a report by council’s manager of developmental services, Matthew Goodwin said.
DIPNR, council and the Department of Mineral Resources all knew about them but by effectively “turning a blind eye” it could be argued they had “effectively sanctioned these businesses despite any legislative breaches,” the report said.
Under council’s present zoning Grawin, Glengarry and Sheepyards opal fields are zoned Non-urban A - where a general store was the only business allowed.
While the Grawin store was the only permitted development it was sitting on a mineral claim, where “opal mining and prospecting are dominant land uses”, so council could not approve a development application for it.
Instead council “intends to seek to facilitate the legitimisation of existing long-established businesses, by inserting a clause in the Local Environment Plan (LEP) which permits them to seek development consent,” Mr Goodwin wrote.
The LEP would permit a Western Lands lease “over an established business that has been continuously operating for a substantial period of time”.
New businesses would be restricted to “urban” areas - with water, power and other “suitable utilities and services”.
“The LEP will specifically prohibit the many business types, or changes of use, on the preserved opal fields. For example new licensed premises will be prohibited.”