Pesticide Use Notification Plan 2015

As a result of the requirements to the Pesticides Regulation 2009, the Blue Mountains City the Council as a public land manager is required to have in place a Pesticide Use Notification Plan. The plan outlines how the Council will notify members of the community about the use of pesticides in the public places that it owns or manages.

The second 3-year review of the Pesticide Use Notification Plan has now been finalised after completing internal consultation with operational staff. A number of minor refinements have consequently been made to the 2010 Plan to produce draft Pesticide Use Notification Plan 2015

The adoption of this reviewed plan will guide the Council’s staff and contractors in how they will continue to notify members of the community of pesticide use in public places throughout the Blue Mountains LGA.

It will also build on the Council’s existing notification processes allowing the Blue Mountains community to make better informed decisions on how they can avoid exposure to pesticides which are utilised as part of pest species control programs in the Blue Mountains Local Government Area.

It should be noted that the plan does not apply to private land holders who are not required to give notification or for other public land management agencies or authorities within the Blue Mountains LGA as they will be covered through the Pesticide Use Notification Plans developed by the individual land management agencies.

This review has reaffirmed a number of current operational practices albeit with minor modification which reflect changing pesticide use to control emerging pest species and achieve more effective control of target pests. These include:

• Additional pesticides commonly used on sporting grounds and in parks and bushland.
• Addition of insecticide powder for control of European Wasps in public places to the list of commonly used pesticides. These insects have become more common in parks and bushland in recent years and present an immediate health hazard to operational staff and the public operating in these locations.

The Blue Mountains City Council have for some time established what are considered benchmark practices in minimising the community’s exposure to pesticides that are applied as part of its pest control programs. These initiatives include;

• The establishment of the Blue Mountains City Council Chemical Sensitive Register;
• The use of the Council Communicator in the Blue Mountains Gazette and the Council’s website to alert the community to upcoming components of their weed control programs; and
• Direct landholder notification where appropriate such as the Alligator Weed control program in the lower Blue Mountains.

The minor changes coming from this review of the plan in regards to the approach that the Council has taken in notifying the community of pesticide use in public places are:

• Additional notification of seasonal pesticide applications on sporting fields and ovals by means of the Council Communicator in the Blue Mountains Gazette and the Council’s website.

This Draft Pesticide Use Notification Plan 2015 will be placed on public exhibition from 29 May to 29 June 2015. All submissions received will be considered in the development of a final Pesticide Use Notification Plan.

The Draft Plan can be viewed in the document library located to the right of this page or at Council’s Katoomba office and Springwood Library.

Submissions close 29 June 2015.

Submissions need to be clearly marked ‘Submission: Pesticide Use Notification Plan 2015 – File F00883’, and can be submitted by the following ways:

• By filling out the online submission here
• Post: The General Manager, Blue Mountains City Council, Locked Bag 1005, Katoomba NSW 2780
• Deliver: Katoomba or Springwood Council offices
• E-mail: council@bmcc.nsw.gov.au

For more information contact Linda Thomas on 4780 5612 or lthomas@bmcc.nsw.gov.au.