Sentinel-Times' Comment
AS MUCH as we put our faith in the responsible authorities, the government departments, our shires and water authorities, they don’t always get it right.
Take Greater Western Water for example, covering a large swarth of the Melbourne metro area, from Footscray and Werribee in the south to Bacchus Marsh in the west and Lancefield in the north.
Allegedly, as a result of an IT glitch, they forgot to send out tens of thousands of rates notices, in February and March this year.
But because of a ruling by the Essential Services Commission, they won’t be able to bill those (lucky) people again for the water rates and charges, costing them a cool $18.6 million… oops!
And closer to home, how did the Bass Coast Shire Council ever allow the Victorian Planning Authority to slap more than 600 Environmental Audit Overlays on the homes of mums and dads, retirees and young people getting a start in the new Wonthaggi North East residential precinct earlier this year?
We know the shire knew the VPA intended to go ahead with the wholesale application of these highly restrictive planning overlays, as early as August 22, 2022, almost 17 months before they were ultimately added to the homeowners’ titles on January 18, 2024, because the VPA sent out their ‘Draft Bass Coast Planning Scheme Amendment C152basc Referral 3 - Wonthaggi North East Precinct Structure Plan’ in August 2022 listing on-going engagement with Bass Coast.
Following their ‘closing submission’ on April 16, 2022, the Bass Coast Shire Council added further addenda on April 20, May 2, May 25, June 6, June 22, June 23 and July 14, 2022 so it is inconceivable that the shire didn’t know the VPA had expanded the application of the EAOs over a much wider area.
The draft amendment C152basc ‘Referral 3’ states the following: “The 2021 version of the draft Amendment expands the application of the EAO over a much wider area within the PSP area… The VPA outlined that this change was necessary because on 1 July 2021 the Environment Protection Act 2017 (EP Act) came into effect, which included new guidance for planning authorities on how risks associated with potentially contaminated land should be considered as part of planning scheme amendments.”
The document included a map of the ‘Proposed Environmental Audit Overlay mapping’ covering more than 600 home sites and building blocks which had long since passed all the approvals necessary.
But despite having receipt of that ‘VPA Projects Standing Advisory Committee Final Report’ on Amendment C152 for the Wonthaggi North East Precinct in August 2022, the shire council told no one that these overlays were coming.
If the shire had gone public with its concerns, at that stage, an obvious fiasco might have been avoided, if not with council advocacy, certainly with people power.
So, the reality is, as much as we hope our ‘responsible authorities’ always get it right, they don’t, which is why they need to be open and transparent about everything they do, (1.) so the collective knowledge of the community can be brought to bear on better decision making, and (2.) so these authorities can cover their own backsides in the event something goes wrong.
This week we posed some questions to the Bass Coast Shire Council in the interests of transparency and better decision making. Perhaps you have other suggestions about where the Bass Coast Shire Council’s policies and operations can be improved.
* When will the two new Evie fast charging stations be made operational in the Cowes Transit Carpark (Chapel Street end) after months sitting idle?
* When will the council reassess the usefulness of Olive Justice Place in Cowes when even on busy holiday days in town no one uses it? Would it be better to convert it back to carparking, bearing in mind the expected loss of carparking when the Cowes Streetscape project goes ahead, or some other layout or use?
* When will there be a review of operations at Berninneit (one year on from its opening)? Even on busy days, hardly anyone uses the public square in front of the centre. Could tenders be offered for a contractor to set up a café to create more foot-traffic and vibrancy?
The Bass Coast Shire Council has referred these questions “to the relevant teams” and will (hopefully) get back to us.
