Bathurst council approves plans for Watton medicinal cannabis facility

The facility will be built at Freemantle Road, Watton, approximately 23 kilometres north east of Bathurst, and will be used for the purpose of growing, cultivating and processing medicinal cannabis.

The finished product is aimed at managing chronic pain, epilepsy and multiple sclerosis as well as pain associated with palliative care.

Up to 50 people will be employed as a result of the development.

A public forum was held on Wednesday night, prior to the determination of the development application (DA), giving people a chance to speak to the agenda item for council's meeting.

Blake O'Sullivan, the applicant, addressed the chamber to respond to the concerns raised about the proposal and to highlight the value for the community.

"In terms of benefits for the community, we aim to be a major contributor to the community by creating 50-plus jobs and, if we do grow, there will be continued growth for the community in terms of job creation," he said.

"We also plan to create partnerships with local universities to allow for students to also learn some of our proprietary growing methodologies. And then also the stimulus to the community with a $10 million to $15 million construction, which will be tendered out to local subcontractors and contractors alike.

"Also through the operation we will try to source everything locally as much as possible as we want to be contributing and very active members of the community."

The DA was approved unanimously with a long list of conditions of consent attached.

While council staff and councillors were satisfied with the plans, multiple community members had raised objections.

Four submissions were received during the DA's notification period and some of the people who made submissions also spoke at Wednesday's public forum.

Watton resident Brad Woods said his main concern was security, particularly how long it could take police to respond in the event of an emergency.

Mr Woods asked council to make it mandatory for the site to be manned 24/7, but this was not included in council's resolution.

NSW Police did assess the proposal and determined it to be "low risk" for crime provided that certain measures were implemented.

These include: two fences to deter people from entering the site, razor wire on fencing, early detection systems on fencing, no blind spots for a CCTV system, a back to base security system that is monitored 24/7, and manned security during operating hours.

Stephen Rowland, another Watton resident, also raised concerns about the development, questioning whether some of the technical aspects of the DA were legal and calling on council to reject it.

Council's director of Environmental, Planning and Building Services later commented on the legal risks raised, saying "that is not the opinion of council staff and we likewise have confidence with the recommendations we brought in".

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