Rodney Stevens, Clarence Valley Independent

A NSW Parliamentary inquiry into the Planning System and the Impacts of Climate Change on the Environment and Communities is calling for public submissions and the Yamba Community Action Network Yamba CAN Inc is encouraging locals to show their concerns about what is happening on the Yamba floodplain.

In the fifth year of the Waveski Australian Open being held at Yamba the standard of surfing reached new heights in 2023, with several divisions coming down to the last wave of the final before the champion could be crowned ... “Rees Duncan, multiple world champion was a standout in the Open division...": Organiser and competitor, Dave Andrews.

An important step to rebuilding essential health services across regional and rural NSW has been taken by the state government with the establishment of a Regional Health Ministerial Advisory Panel, but there are no local representatives advocating for the Northern Rivers region ... panel is to focus on building the regional health workforce, strengthening community engagement, and improving the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Clarence Valley beaches now feature a splash of pink after the Far North Coast Surf Lifesaving Nippers season began and children don their pink rash shirts. Nippers at Yamba is open to children between the ages of six and fourteen, and the surf skills program teaches lifesaving techniques, surf safety, CPR, and rescue experience, while completing fun activities in the surf.

Yamba chef Marley Van Den Boom has brought invaluable food knowledge and skills back to his hometown after completing a three-month internship at the restaurant that has been named the world’s best multiple times, Japan’s three-Michelin-star restaurant Noma. The 22-year-old told the CV Independent he started working in a Yamba café aged 14 as a dish washer while in high school...

New blood has been selected to steer Clarence Valley Council for the next 12 months with Cr Peter Johnstone elected Mayor and Jeff Smith Deputy Mayor, both candidates securing their positions by a single vote. In a surprise move, both incumbents, former Mayor Ian Tiley, and his Deputy Mayor Greg Clancy, did not nominate for election at the September 26 council meeting at the Grafton chambers.

Three Palmers Island prawn farms at the centre of the White Spot outbreak in the Clarence River have entered the final stage of decontamination as part of the NSW Department of Primary Industries DPI eradication response ... The extension of the Control Order was a devastating blow for the Clarence prawn trawl industry and trawler operators like Dean Opalniuk, who received no income from prawns this year, where he would usually average $3000 a week in season, leaving him with a business that was worth more than $200,000, now being worthless.

A DA for a 36-lot subdivision at Orion Drive, Yamba, over an area that is predominantly water, has been deferred for one month by Clarence Valley Council to allow consultation with the Yaegl Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation ... this was the second time the DA had been on public exhibition ... the initial DA was lodged in September 2020.

One of the north coast’s largest beekeepers, Clarenza based Bee Services owner Steve Fuller says transitioning from eradicating Varroa mite to managing the problem was the best solution for the industry, but the full impact of the insect might not be known for two or three years.

The search for the missing Yamba Public School time capsule is over after organisers received devastating news last week that pinpointed the metal cylinder’s location and shattered the dreams of excited locals eager to view its contents. To mark Yamba Public School’s YPS 100th anniversary in 1983, a time capsule was buried on the old school site to be opened in the year 2000...