![FLYING FOXES: A plan has been endorsed by Kempsey Shire Council to deal with Flying Foxes impacting East Kempsey residents. FLYING FOXES: A plan has been endorsed by Kempsey Shire Council to deal with Flying Foxes impacting East Kempsey residents.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/larissa.waterson/4d6e914c-fd92-486e-956f-3a70872ce7bc.jpg/r0_0_1200_675_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
In a statement today, Kempsey Shire Council said it is a step closer to reducing the impact of flying foxes on residents in East Kempsey after endorsing a Plan of Management at this week’s council meeting.
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The plan was developed in conjunction with specialist ecological consultant group, Ecosure, following community engagement that included a survey, face- to-face meetings and phone calls with interested members and extensive promotion.
The adopted Rudder Park Flying Fox Camp Management Plan includes both long-term and short-term actions and now puts council in a position to seek funding assistance to deliver those actions.
Level one and two actions include: education and awareness programs; property modification; ensuring that advice is available to the community on how to manage interactions with flying foxes; appropriate land use planning; creating buffers by removing bamboo from the edges of the camp area and buffers without vegetation removal, such as sprinklers.
“Having this plan in place means that Council can start moving towards seeking funding to get actions undertaken,” Mayor Liz Campbell said at the meeting.
Council’s Environmental Strategies Officer, Bill Larkin, said given flying foxes are a protected species, dispersal of the flying fox camp would only be considered, failing the actions mentioned above.
“The more expensive and extreme options won’t be approved by the Office of Environment and Heritage until level one and two actions have been shown not to be effective,” he said.
“After consulting with the community, council believes these actions will work well at reducing the impacts on local residents.”
Council will now apply for funding through the NSW Government to carry out the actions in the plan.