DON'T let the roads around the site get degraded and make sure the city gets the benefits from the construction period.
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Those are the two main pieces of advice from Dubbo Regional mayor Ben Shields in regards to a proposed $200 million solar farm at Eglinton.
Neoen, the French renewable energy company behind the Eglinton proposal, switched on a $20m, 55-hectare solar farm on a sheep property east of Dubbo in June 2018.
Cr Shields said the NSW Government, which will have the final say on whether the Eglinton solar farm goes ahead, does not "necessarily mandate" for a significant upgrade of roads if need be during the construction period.
"That has not been made part of the development consent," he said. "But the state needs to do that."
It will be up to Bathurst Regional Council, he said, to push for an upgrade of roads if it is necessary.
He said Bathurst Regional Council will also need to push, this time with Neoen, to make sure any construction workers brought in from outside Bathurst benefit the accommodation market.
"Even if they [construction workers] are in existing motels, at least those moteliers will do well," he said.
Neoen says more than 230 jobs are expected to be created during the 12- to 18-month construction period for the Eglinton project.
The worst option for Bathurst, Cr Shields said, would be if the construction workers were housed in some sort of accommodation camp and food for them was transported in from outside the city.
His last piece of advice was for Bathurst Regional Council to play a part in ensuring a long-term community return from the Eglinton project.
Neoen, for its part, has said the solar farm will establish a Community Benefit-Sharing Scheme to "deliver benefits for the lifetime of the project".
Cr Shields said his community was "generally for" Neoen's Dubbo solar farm, but opinions varied among the immediate neighbours.