It is becoming abundantly clear that council has stuffed up monumentally in its structure planning fiasco. Richard Wynne has obviously not been willing to sign off on the Elsternwick proposals. The reason? Major community opposition plus the failure to provide any strategic justification. The result is that council is now being forced to:
- Spend more money on more consultants for something that should have been researched and analysed right from the start of the process
- Commit to further ‘community consultation’ via a ‘reference group’ so that the Elsternwick structure plan is now put back until late 2019 and probably beyond.
The History of Machination
Elsternwick was ignored when the interim height guidelines were introduced for Bentleigh & Carnegie. Why? We still have had no explanation, unless of course the objective has always been to turn Elsternwick into a high rise centre. Now another year at least will pass without any decent protection for the suburb.
Council called for further traffic and overshadowing data in February 2018. It is now 5 months later and still no sign of these documents. Have these even been done? If so, then why do we need more consultants to do the same work?
Are we about to have another Clayton’s reference group that is sworn to secrecy? Why couldn’t such processes be instituted for all the activity centres right from the start?
So now we’ve reached the ludicrous situation where the ‘objectives’ for Elsternwick include:
All of the above ‘criteria’ were supposedly analysed and confirmed by council in February 2018. We had urban design guidelines that established setbacks and heights; we had ‘landuse frameworks’; we had ‘place making’ projects; we had promises about open space levies and developer contributions, etc. etc. Two conclusions are therefore possible: either this latest consultancy is there simply to endorse what has already been determined or, it is an acknowledgement of the total incompetence of this council where even Richard Wynne won’t go along with the existing draft structure plan and tells council to go back to the drawing board! And all of this begs the question of course as to why Carnegie is being totally ignored. It also has heritage plus 12 storeys and pathetically limited justification. We congratulate Elsternwick residents but bemoan the fact that it is opposition that causes ‘reviews’ rather than sound planning by this council!
For more ‘damage control’ info, see – www.gleneira.vic.gov.au/elsternwick-masterplan
Glen Eira Debates 
July 18, 2018 at 12:09 PM
The project objectives tell a dismal story highlighted in the post. Council raced ahead and passed a structure plan that was spectacularly unacceptable and lacked any kind of evidence to support what council wanted. We’ve had the crap about evidence countless times and how council always decides on the basis of the evidence. This shows what a lie this is. How councillors can vote for a plan and then come up with this is incomprehensible. What it means is that all of the previous consultants reports aren’t worth a cracker. I’m not convinced that this latest effort will be any better. Consultants do what they’re told and paid to do.
July 18, 2018 at 1:53 PM
Well … didn’t the residents tell the councillor just these points time and time again, and ausaul our tratoirist councillors sided with the bureaucrats to save themselves having to think about anything other than their own self interest.
Can it get any worse than this inditiment of potentially incompetent and or corrupted process and behaviors by all involved.
July 18, 2018 at 8:09 PM
If you have to start from scratch again it means that what went before was woeful. Terrific work councillors in voting the rubbish in. Resign now because none of you have got a clue
July 18, 2018 at 9:54 PM
It’s money for nothing, no work, no thinking, all you have to do is hold your hand in the air and vote yes when told to, they aren’t going to resign from this little cash cow with benefits.
July 19, 2018 at 5:17 PM
Council has been a dreadful disappointment going back before it was last sacked. Still, whatever the situation is, we have to try to make the best of it. I’d like to see more accountability and transparency. Maintain minutes of meetings between council staff, Ministers, ministerial advisors, and government departments. Publish correspondence. More “strategic work” needs to be done but we’re not told who ordered it and why.
Despite the hundreds of pages of bumph that allegedly support the strategic plan, it is hard to see how the result is fair or sustainable. Much more attention should have been paid to establishing amenity standards for people living outside of the cherished NRZ. Remember that 8 councillors don’t think poor amenity is a valid ground for refusal of a Permit. Be in a residential zone and you still get branded as a “commercial area”, so not worthy of any amenity. We’re all at risk for so long as “decision guidelines” provide no guidance.
July 19, 2018 at 7:18 PM
The last two years have shown that the tasks are far beyond council’s capability. Having a mindset that refuses to engage meaningfully with the community is also a big minus. If you are fair dinkum and want to know what people think and desire you don’t dump over 1000 pages of spin on them in one hit. Next you don’t provide option 1 or option 2 that achieve nothing. Thirdly you don’t then pretend that after having all the evidence and making decisions we are short on evidence. Whether these are mistakes, or deliberate is in the eye of the beholder. My view is that those in control thought they could get away with it. Thankfully Wynne seems to have put a halt to the sham.
July 19, 2018 at 10:36 PM
Since when did Wynne give a hoot about what happens in Glen Eira except to try and score points against the Southwick and Hyam’s Liberal consortium , or in this case give a leg-up the Labor candidates for Albert Park and Caulfield and better chance of winning in the coming election.
Sure our councillors have failed as usual and shown either incompetents or a conspiracy to side against residents and with the bureaucrats also as usual.
Of course these are the same bureaucrats that have been pissing in the pockets of the developers so much they overflowed and run under Wynne’s door and become an unsightly stinking embarrassment, so Wynn’s put the hand brake on for a few months.
Either way the developers win; our councillors will continue to pass everything that comes before them, so it’s back to business as usual, with the expectation that everything they pass between now and the next presentation to Wynn will be justified when Wynn gives all the big tick of approval after the election is over in November.
This is no victory it’s just cheap politics dressed up as “we are listening and we care” They don’t, the developers own Government at all levels lock stock and barrel. They already have everything they want, which of course doesn’t stop them wanting more. In their eyes politician and developers see no limits to power or greed, as you can always have more.
July 20, 2018 at 6:25 AM
Just more waste of everyones time and money which is par for the course.
July 20, 2018 at 9:49 AM
Do the residents action group in Elsternwick have a web site?
July 24, 2018 at 10:23 PM
No website but you can contact the Elsternwick action group at nohighriserezone@iinet.net.au