Fools Gold / Development at any cost mentality reigns supreme in the Shoalhaven

sorry bout the fast and dirty adaptation of the Frederick County road sign :)
 

Shoalhaven Open for Business-

The question is when was it ever closed!!!!!

The Liberals are taking their tired old mantra to new heights encouraged all the way by the old master Greg Watson.

Seriously who believes that the Shoalhaven has been closed-the old dominating Watson regime was in power for many years and had a develop at any cost mantra and this 'new Gash Council' is no different.

Clr Patricia White is chairing the special development meetings that are considering the latest round of submissions on the Local Environment Plan.

White wanted to hold the meetings in a super meeting over one weekend a sure recipe for disaster as fatigue and forgetfulness would fuel poor decision making and a very poor way to encourage community participation.

Mind you watching the dynamics of the chamber and the reliance on Watson's advice is sickening and perhaps fatigue would have produced better outcomes.

It has even been reported to me that in a desperate bid to make sure the Gashites didn't change the very scant and poor aims and objectives of the plan they invoked the Findley / Greens characterisation argument.

That's the argument were Watson and Guile make out that it is Findley's / The Greens fault that not much has happened in the city for years. HELLO when have the Greens actually been in 'power' in the Shoalhaven?

Millions of dollars of projects have been approved over the last 10 years and many of them languish not because the Greens caused it, but I would argue that the proposals were far to intense and simply not palatable in a low key area like the Shoalhaven-its a supply and demand type of issue.

So when previous develop at any cost Councils approved proposals that are outside development controls- push height limits too far and building set backs into impact zones they encourage a 'fools gold' mentality and people should shoulder some responsibility for their decisions.

The argument the Conservatives throw back is - well the developer knows best- what's viable / what's not. Sure they know what's best for their business but if the governing body actually had a vision other than the develop at any cost one- then development expectations would be more in line with the expected market and the existing community- people don't live here because they want it to be like Shellharbour! The Shoalhaven has many different characteristic's and that's why planning to suit them is so important.

Meanwhile back at the meetings Councillors are making poor decisions despite best efforts to try and explain why they shouldn't. I accept that there is more than one way to make decisions, but I also maintain that we have a community of people who care about the city they live in and Council should do its utmost to include them in every step of the planning process. NOT present unwieldy business papers and carry out poor consultation procedures.

I advised Clr White that this process is poor prior to them adopting it- seems it fell on deaf ears. Clr White has run for Council a couple of times before and she spent no time in the chamber during the last Planning phase to see what worked- yet her infinite wisdom didn't support what was a much better process last time around.

It's not over yet so I will keep you posted.