City councillor Aaron Horsman takes action following dust complaints from Greenough residents living nearby

City of Greater Geraldton councillor Aaron Horsman says he is taking steps to alleviate the large amounts of sand spreading from a Greenough property leased by him “dependant on departmental agreement” following complaints from neighbours. Last week, City officers visited Greenough residents to document their concerns after receiving complaints of unhealthy amounts of dust from a poorly maintained and overstocked semi-rural property nearby, leased by Cr Horsman. Lauren Conway lives behind the 24ha property and said the sand in the air significant ramifications for people in the neighbourhood, particularly herself. She said hundreds of sheep kept on the property caused the paddock to become a “dust bowl” that blows on to nearby houses. Since then, the flock has been reduced to less than 100. Her semi-rural property is not connected to the integrated water supply scheme. Ms Conway said all the rain water had been exhausted trying to get rid of the sand and her electricity bill had doubled, costing more than $1000 per quarter. “We are building a brand new house and it’s all covered in dust,” Ms Conway said. “Who knows how much damage has been done to our new roof?” Not only that, she is concerned for the health of her family and pets. Ms Conway said her horses, dogs, cats, birds and a pet sheep were all suffering with respiratory distress and some birds had died. “My 12-year-old daughter has to regularly go and stay at her grandparents’ in town when it is really bad. She has State squad obligations with her pony but has been unable to train,” she said. “We accept the wind, the Greenough flats are notorious for it. We live with it with no complaints but this dust is unbearable, some of (our) neighbours are even considering moving.” Cr Horsman said he understood his neighbours’ concerns about the dust and was working to slow the spread “to the best of our ability and budget at this time of year”. He said he was prompted to use sprinkler suppression in a bid to mitigate the City’s concerns in December, but it made no difference. He said they were now working to reduce the flock of sheep by sending half to the local abattoir and relocating the others to a newly fenced section of the property. Cr Horsman said low pressure sprinkler systems and 50m of hessian matting would be installed to suppress the dust dependent on “departmental agreement going forward”. “There are many livestock producers suffering from pastoral degradation and a prolonged extreme weather event, and I would encourage all Australians to support livestock producers in WA in this difficult time,” Cr Horsman said. “Like many farmers and livestock holders in the Mid West, we await the break of the season.” City CEO Ross McKim confirmed the city was aware of sand issues arising from a Greenough property and was working to resolve complaints from nearby residents. “The city’s main focus is to ensure that something is done to reduce the sand in the interim — as a minimum. But we also need to ensure the landowners have a long-term strategy in place as we head into the wetter months to encourage vegetation growth for sand stability in future dry seasons,” he said. “The city is in talks with both the land owner and land occupiers to ensure a solution is met for the health and safety of local residents.” The land owner in question, James Cockman, said he was aware there were sheep kept on the property for “longer than they should have been” and was in discussions with the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development about the “ongoing issue”. “We’ve put in sprinklers in and are doing what we can to try and keep the vegetation in the ground but some paddocks are not as stable as others. We do what we can to keep the dust down, but until we find a way to stop the wind blowing,” he said. “Nobody likes it, it would be nice to have some rain.” A DPIRD spokesperson said the department was working with residents to mitigate dust at the Greenough property. “DPIRD reminds landholders to take steps to adopt strategies to minimise the risk of land degradation from wind erosion, as well as the impact on health and safety,” they said. For more information and advice, visit the DPIRD website www.agric.wa.gov.au and search “managing wind erosion in southern Western Australia”.