We’ve received the following email from a Bentleigh resident. It was sent to councillors, the CEO, and to the Minister.

“Good morning Mr Mayor.

I am writing in regard to your recent correspondence about a petition which was submitted to Council around the proposed inappropriate structure plan. We dedicated a good deal of time to get to the residents and to obtain 221 signatures from 221 very angry residents who deserve to have their feelings included in the process of Community consultation.

Your advice to us is that the 221 residents will be considered as one submission. Your words in your email are;

“The petition will be included as a submission on the draft structure plan, but in accordance with Council practices, it will be considered as a single submission”.

So if I understand you correctly, we might as well have saved a considerable amount of time and effort and submitted just one resident. It would carry the same weight as the 221 names we provided. 

I request clarification as to my interpretation of your comments, and if I am correct, I want to know the reason behind ignoring the remaining 220 residents who have provided their details. 

This seems to me and to a number of those who took the time to provide their details to be simply wrong and against any fair inclusion of their wishes. I said that there was anger by the residents we contacted with the petition, but that pales into insignificance when compared to the anger shown by those who I have already advised of the Councils position regarding their involvement.

I wonder if this council and its planning department is really interested in Residents issues and wishes or is this process of Community Consultation again just for show.

This, if my interpretation of your comment is correct, is a disgusting situation. 

I look forward to your clarification in this matter.

Thank you,”

COMMENT

Not for the first time has Council ignored community feedback, arguing that forums were either ‘information sessions’, and hence don’t ‘qualify’ for official ‘consultation’ events. What bunkum! Readers will remember that:

  • Over 100 residents came out on a cold winter’s night to present their views on the Housing Strategy. The resulting reports on that evening revealed that the anger was ‘palpable’, especially when officers attempted to close down the meeting instead of continuing to listen to what residents had to say.
  • Way back over 200 people attended another ‘information forum’ on the draft Elsternwick structure plan. Again ignored. Bentleigh structure planning was another instance of down playing feedback.
  • The very fact that in the vast majority of council reports outlining community feedback,  there is a failure to include honestly and comprehensively what residents had to say. Legitimate concerns about ‘overdevelopment’ are simply swept under the carpet and barely rate a mention. Council even fights tooth and nail to prevent the verbatim publication of  such feedback when previously this was seen as proper process when strategic planning first began.
  • We have now had structure planning endorsed for Glen Huntly, Bentleigh, Elsternwick, Carnegie, and Caulfield accompanied by bogus surveys, ‘information sessions’, and spin. Not once have these surveys been road tested with the community consultation committee, and councillors barely get a look in. Repeatedly, councillors  have been forced to vote without all the relevant documents available to them, or without sufficient time to critically analyse and digest what it is they are being asked to vote on. This planning department and administration has much to answer for!