RENEWED moves to rid Singleton of its Burdekin Park bats gained Singleton Council endorsement last week.
One of the people who organised a community meeting on bats at Club Singleton earlier this month, Sarah Johnstone, addressed councillors at their regular Monday night meeting.
She said residents looked forward to “a flying fox-free Singleton”, and she supported two recommendations in a report by acting assets director Alan Fletcher.
A working group was formed through the community meeting to seek a solution from internet social media contacts, liaising with people in other areas with bat problems and by lobbying state and federal government representatives, she said.
Mr Fletcher’s recommendations, which councillors unanimously backed, were that the council work with other Hunter region councils to develop bat management systems and seek state and federal government support to address bat-related issues.
Mr Fletcher’s report summarised the community meeting, action Singleton Council had already taken and the situation with bats in Sydney’s Royal Botanic Gardens, two other Sydney suburbs and up the New South Wales north coast.
Cr Alison Howlett described the bats as a plague and said Singleton residents, not bats, were the threatened species.
Cr Godfrey Adamthwaithe said “get rid of trees and you won’t have bats”.
Mr Fletcher said representatives of the Cessnock, Maitland and Dungog communities, where bats were a problem, would meet on May 30 to discuss united action.
