Dear Mayor and elected Councillors. I implore you to vote against tonights proposal to allow our unelected CEO to take over massive responsibility for decision making re the vast majority of DAs that come to Council. The proposal lacks transparency and accountability, and comes at a time when community views of political commitment and integrity are at a low ebb. It is also sprung upon the electorate with undue haste and without widespread community discussion. This move has been covert, and badly advertised to the public . It is not in the public interest, especially local community interest , and it needs to be defeated out if hand. We already suffer from the impacts of GCC handing over to a discredited State legislature the responsibility for control of the Gosford Waterfront, with infrastructure costs and sea level rise compensations to be borne in the future by Voters and taxpayers of the LGA and a vast amount of key public land transferred to the private sector. The developer interests are shortly to show themselves. The proposal was pushed through with negligent and scant regard to widespread community opposition, and even significant manipulation of the community consultation processes. Last nights ABC program on the extent of undue planning influence on elected officials is salutory, but at least the current process provides opportunity for checks and balances, open debate, and challenge from a range of perspectives. This proposal is a totally inappropriate concentration of power to address the demands of developers, not community. gCC should be digging itself out of the mire, not sinking further into it. While the job of Councillors is significant and onerous , off loading it to an unelected official is not on! If this proposal is approved tonight , the last vestiges of trust in our local government system will be destroyed, and community commitment will be withdrawn, creating major social and governance issues into the future. Kay Williams
Posted on: Tue, 24 Jun 2014 05:44:00 +0000
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