Planning Minister Throws Out Shoalhaven Spot Rezoning

I've got a lot more to say on this issue but here is a copy of the press release I put out today.
 

The Shoalhaven Green are delighted to see Planning Minister Brad Hazzard take steps to get the Draft Shoalhaven Local Environment Plan 2009 back on track and more reflective of community concerns.

‘The Minister has advised Council that many of the spot rezoning’s that were awarded during the Council’s consideration of the community submissions simply cannot be supported’ said Greens Councillor Amanda Findley.

‘I feel personally vindicated that the stance I took to not award the spot rezoning’s has been validated by the Minister’ said Clr Findley.

‘During the course of the many Council meetings to consider the submission, I was subjected to a continual stream of Green bashing, my stance on these matters was labelled anti-development and I was often negatively characterised by fellow Councillors, so for a Liberal Planning Minister to now seek Council’s cooperation in rolling back non-strategic rezoning’s is a great step forward for better planning in the Shoalhaven.’

“Along with then Clr John Fergusson we were the consistent voices for the Shoalhaven to follow strategic and state recognised plans such as the Nowra /Bomaderry structure plan, the South Coast Sensitive Urban Land Review and the South Coast strategy.’ said Clr Findley.

‘Im pleased also that Mayor Gash has given consideration to the Ministers comments and seems willing to roll back the inappropriate up-zonings’.

‘On an environmental level is great to see the Minister doesn’t support intensification of housing in flood prone lands, and that Minister Hazzard also supports the protection of environmentally sensitive lands’.

“The use of the Local Environment Planning template is not without its problems and there are still a number of issues that need further strengthening, but the Minister’s letter can give all Shoalhaven residents confidence that there is broad support for a more sustainable model for our area’.

 

Amanda Findley : Greens Councillor: Ward 3: Shoalhaven City Council: 0434 151 730 or 44543257

One Association : But only if its Liberals style

Battle Begins Over One Association

      Liberal MP Gareth Ward has engineered a vote at Shoalhaven Council to have fellow Councillor Amanda Findley stripped of her voting rights on the merger of the rural based Shires Association and the larger, and metropolitan based, Local Government Association.

Clr Findley introduced the One Association motion at the May meeting and was unanimously supported by the Council as one of four delegates to vote on the merger issue, along with Clrs Guile Fergusson and Green.

“It makes sense for Local Government in NSW to have one peak lobbying body not two, but the current structure is poorly thought through and leaves Shoalhaven Council at risk of paying more in fees and have less votes than smaller metropolitan  Councils’. Clr Findley said.

      There has long been speculation that the keenness with which Liberal and National Party aligned Councillors have been supporting the merger is due to the massive advantage the voting rules will give to conservatives in the new Association.

      Larger regional Councils have been devalued in the proposed rules therefore allowing the smaller, but numerically greater number of Shires to dominate.   The result is likely to be a more conservative association with stronger ties to the Coalition.

      'Clr Ward should be acting in the interests of the residents and community of the Shoalhaven and not playing party politics with this.' said Clr Findley. “I put forward a balanced group of Councillors to vote on the issue of amalgamation and he has once again manoeuvred in his conservative mates”.

“Cl Ward wants to sell out the Shoalhaven in favour of the team Liberal project, even though we will de disadvantaged with less votes and likely paying more fees”. Said Clr Findley.

Councils Fear Community Scrutiny in Local Environment Plan Deliberations

Councils Ordinary Meeting 26 October 2011

Motion no 70.

1. During further future considerations of the Local Environment Plan 2009 (SLEP 2009), Council conduct all meetings, breifings etc as 'open' to the community.

2. Council publish on its website the submissions recieved from the community in regards to the SLEP2009

3. Council give greater weighting to the submission contributed by the 'Shoalhaven LEP Review Committee.



The public exhibition period for Shoalhavens Local Environment Plan ended a fortnight ago. Public sessions have been well attended and there is some level of interest from the community. The next steps in the building of the local environment plan is to review the submissions and consider how council will or will not incorporate the requests made into the final document.

Council staff will summarise the issues and present a report most likely to a series of breifings to get Councils direction on how to respond. These breifings are held in confidential session and are not supposed to create binindg decisions the public are not allowed to attend either as witness or particpant.

Bringing this motion to Council was inviting a hiding to nowhere as the dinosaurs at Shoalhaven Council have not yet evolved enough to understand that informed decision making and infomed constituients makes for a much better relationship and better outcomes. Councillor Brumerskji accused me of being  'irresponsible' and that it was 'problemtic' to include community who could go away and use our discussions against us.

Councillor Guile accused me of being audacious in bringing such a motion forward as it revealed my true colors in wanting to support my Green's mates and stack the room with SAC . Well that was a complement really as I certainly do want to represent the people who voted for me- who also see that community involvment is a 21st Century attitude.

It was obvious from the arguments that number three was the most abhorent part of the motion as the accusations were layed on thick and fast about trying to 'skew' the process by giveing one  submission higher weighting- I think that their argument just shows a lack of understanding in how a network of like minded people crafted a seriously challengeing submission to the Local Environment Plan. However I was willing to show some flexability and removed number three and amended number two to request  the summary that will be prepared be available publicly.

Still no joy though- I was only able to gain support from Clrs Ward and Fergusson for the revised version of the motion.

Check out the business papers in particular the General Managers Comments on page 69 of the reports. Im astounded that he claimed that the Local Environment Plan Review Group was less than representative as it was just over half of the groups sponsored by Council (13/24) and that 3 other community groups were included making it 16 groups which actually makes the representation more inclusive than the average 7/6 Council decision.

Over to you -Should Council include community in its Local Environment Plan breifings - vote in the poll and leave your comments

Missing in Action- South Coast Register Style

My quick comment before reading- I made sure that during the election campaign I attended to all Council matters. The meetings I seem to have missed are committee that I am either not a member of or just can't change my timetable to fit!

MISSING IN ACTION


BY JEFF STEPHENSON South Coast Register
15 Jun, 2011 08:21 AM

Minister’s claim you can’t be a councillor and an MP is borne out by the roll call

THE difficulty in combining state and local politics has been demonstrated by figures showing attendance records at Shoalhaven City Council meetings and council briefing sessions.

Both Mayor Paul Green and Cr Gareth Ward are under pressure to terminate their local government roles after the Local Government Minister Don Page voiced growing concerns about MPs continuing to hold roles on council.

Cr Ward’s attendance at council meetings has dropped dramatically since he won the seat of Kiama in March this year.

Figures released recently show Cr Ward has attended only 17 council meetings this year out of a possible 45 until the end of May.

This compares to Cr John Fergusson, who has attended 44 meetings and Cr Greg Watson with a record of 42 and Cr Amanda Findlay with an attendance record of 36 meetings from the 45.

Cr Ward’s attendance at briefing meetings is worse.

He attended only one briefing meeting this year until the end of May.

Cr Amanda Findley tops the count with a 100 per cent record of 12 out of 12.

Cr Green has managed much better than Cr Ward.

The mayor has attended seven of 12 briefing sessions this year and 24 of 45 council meetings.

Cr Ward had attended 90 briefing sessions from October, 2008 until May 2011, while Cr Green’s record for the same period is 149 from 180 meetings.

Cr Green insists he can manage the two roles.
He was elected as Shoalhaven Mayor in 2008 and a Member of the Legislative Council as a Christian Democrat in March.He has conceded the two roles “can be a strain” but he believed the advantage the city gained outweighed the disadvantage of him being out of the city on occasions. He said his time was “worth millions to the city if we get it right” and said the cost to the city could be as much as $250,000 should he relinquish the role which would be brought on by another election.

Mr Page sent shockwaves through the state government when he targeted people trying to fill the dual roles.