Earlier this month Boroondara City Council voted in a resolution which basically condemned the flurry of planning changes introduced by the State Government over the past 18 months or so. The vote was a result of a detailed officer report outlining the consequences of these changes and how they would impact the Boroondara community. In Glen Eira, apart from a bit of fear mongering by some councillors used to justify their voting patterns on activity centres (ie we would get worse results if the minister calls it in, blah, blah, blah) there has not been one report, analyses, or discussion similar to the Boroondara stance. In all likelihood, residents have no idea of what these changes to the planning system entail, or what they mean for future development.
If councils are truly working for their residents, then it is incumbent on them to provide their communities with the necessary information and to work collaboratively with various community groups in their advocacy roles. None of this has happened in Glen Eira. Why not? Why can’t we have an officer’s report which is out in the open and discussed in council chambers so that everyone knows what this council stands for?
The Boroondara vote can be watched via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4f_0Tab2Ag. It starts at approximately 52 minutes into the webcast. We’ve also uploaded several pages from the officer’s report. It was lengthy, but the highlighted comments here are important and reveal the primary concerns of Boroondara. Are these shared by Glen Eira? Who knows?
Again, we have a myriad of questions:
- Have councillors even been briefed on what each new piece of legislation means?
- Have options been presented to councillors on what can and should be done in response?
- What communications have taken place between officers and departments? Have councillors been made aware of all such communications? If so, have they seen hard copies of this communication or simply had to rely on officer’s verbal summaries?
Residents deserve heaps better from our council. Or is the truth simply that the Glen Eira administration is fully behind the government’s actions in removing as far as possible all third party objection rights and allowing more and more development?
Glen Eira Debates 
November 22, 2023 at 1:35 PM
Councils should be screaming out loud about these changes because control is being ripped away from residents and councils.
The media has had articles about granny flats and Boroodara is rightly worried. If the average lot size is 600 metres and then subdivided no permit is required to build the units under 300. You’ve got to question whether this will even make things cheaper or we’ll get more townhouses that cost close to $1m.
November 23, 2023 at 8:54 AM
My guess is that we’ve had about 10 pieces of legislation passed with the obvious intent of sidelining both residents and councils. No formal reaction from Glen Eira says a lot.
November 24, 2023 at 3:58 PM
Council is on record as defining inappropriate development as that which is illegal. So long as it is legal to have no standards, or not to have to comply with standards, the inference is there is very little Council considers inappropriate. That at least explains why it encourages overshadowing of communal open space and habitable room windows. It has had multiple opportunities to speak up about corruption and poor practices in the development industry and dodged it, every single time.