The council had previously got rid of a dam policy on the grounds it was unnecessary, doubling up on assessments made by the Department of Water.

Last Wednesday, deputy president Jenny McGregor introduced a motion for the chief executive officer to prepare a draft dams policy for consideration by the council as soon as is practicable.

“The Department of Water is concerned our Council does not have a position on dams,” she said.

Since they “threw the baby out with the bathwater”, she said, the shire had no input into the visual amenity and environmental aspect of proposed dams.

“I don’t want to go back to a convoluted policy like we had before,” she said.

“(But) we need some impact on what’s happening in our shire.

“Our policy says AMRS doesn’t care.”

Cr Lyn Serventy agreed, saying the council was limited without a dam policy.

“If dams are not complying we can’t do anything about it,” she said.

“It’s up to the DoW which takes a long time.”

However, Cr Brian Middleton said the previous policy was an unnecessary duplication and he doubted a new one would make much difference.

“I don’t think we’re disenfranchised,” he said.

Cr Mike Smart agreed, saying there had been very few incidences of dams requiring their input.

Shire president Ray Colyer spoke against the motion, saying he didn’t see any net benefit to a policy.

Matters such as the volume and size of a dam needed to be assessed by the DoW, he said.

“They are the experts.

“We previously had officers trying to second-guess the DoW.”

Cr McGregor cited a recent Whicher Water meeting which noted the council did not have a position on dams.

However, the motion was lost 2-5.