At last council meeting Hyams let slip the fact that developers were in the know well before residents had any clue as to what was going to happen on August 5th 2013 – ie the introduction of the new zones.
Here’s some further evidence to substantiate our claim that it is developers who get the ‘inside information’ and residents are the ones left out in the cold – despite numerous public questions as to what was going on in early July 2013.
The screen dump below comes from Ratio Consulting – a big firm that has done plenty of work for developers and has undoubtedly got many ‘friendly’ contacts within council. In a posting dated 30th July 2013 they state the following:
To keep our clients in the loop, here is a summary of what we know so far. We are mindful that the following information is gathered from verbal discussions from various Department and Council officers as there is little official feedback. Things are moving quickly so we strongly advise you to make additional enquiries that relate to you and your circumstances.
Many Councils are currently reviewing the zones and the implications and we would expect substantial movement in the next 2-3 months. We will keep you posted of progress in these municipalities. The municipalities we do mention below are those we and our clients work with on a regular basis, and/or have information to share.
Source: http://www.ratio.com.au/ratio-news-planning-zones-update
Here’s what is stated about Glen Eira, before the Minister’s announcement on August 5th. We conclude that developers knew more about what was going on within Glen Eira, than residents. Readers will remember that whilst other councils were busily organising their processes for consultation, Glen Eira’s residents had a year of stunning silence. The only item relating to the zones was Council’s submission to the Minister’s draft in 2012 – just on a year before the March 2013 Minister’s announcement that the zones were now set and that they would come into effect on July 1st 2013. This would give councils a year to implement and consult on their proposed zones. For Ratio to therefore state that Glen Eira “is well advanced with the translation of the zones” and that council is ‘working’ with the Department shows exactly how much the big end of town was in the know and how little the ratepayers knew!
October 27, 2014 at 7:00 PM
Money talks
October 27, 2014 at 10:33 PM
it’s what we have come to expect, in some books it could be called corruption
October 28, 2014 at 6:27 AM
OMG – it just gets worse, the evidence of a flawed implementation that favoured political opportunism and developers over known residents aspirations just keeps mounting.
Here we have insider knowledge made available about a month before the the zone announcement – the community was in the dark. That same community, particularly the growth zones, is now reeling from a swathe of developments that will continue to grow while the NRZers looking at subdivisions..
Council has left residents uninformed both pre and post implementation and in this instance alone has a lot to answer for. I’m just wondering what it’s going to take for residents to wake up and make demands on Council to actually represent the community .
October 28, 2014 at 7:45 AM
Council has Entreprenurial powers ie it’s a business. Helping mates make money unless it’s at Council’s expense is what they do. I’m sure the information wasn’t treated as particularly sensitive, with lots of council officers and councillors “in the know”, any one of which could leak. The Minister against Planning set a precedent by secretly revealing his decision concerning a rezoning on Phillip Island to a developer, later leading to the Government to make an ex gratia payment [aka “hush money”] to prevent the sordid details becoming public in Court. If Ratio Consulting was prepared to publish what it did then it is likely many more details would have been revealed privately.
None of this changes the appalling judgement shown by the decision-makers involved. The original policies weren’t based on community input, they haven’t been implemented fairly or consistently, the outcomes predicted haven’t been delivered, much of the strategic work remains not done, and the Schedules to the new zones have details that have never been subject to community consultation. Each time the protagonists spout their rubbish it further undermines community confidence in what remains of the Planning System.