Hi everyone, This weeks council agenda was quite short as most of the focus for councillors and staff has been on developing the upcoming budget. Which will be handed down by the Mayor on the 22nd of July. However that doesnt mean nothing exciting was resolved...... Today council approved changes to the Infrastructure charges for non residential developments. These changes draw back our charges from the levels of Rockhampton Regional Council and instead reflect the true cost (at present) to our council for new commercial and industrial development. In some cases this change reflects a 50% reduction in infrastructure charges. Our hope is that by encouraging commercial and industrial business growth, we can create more jobs for the residents of the shire. This approach also encourages diversification in our economy and provides more opportunities for our young people to live and work here after they finish year 12. There is more work to be done on this front and we are committed to looking further at infrastructure charges into the future with the new town plan. Which will be brought for public consultation in the near future. But at this stage, my and every councillors thanks need to be expressed to the Strategic Planning team who brought this report about. Well done! Note these changes do not come into place until the 18th of July. All applications made prior to that date, will be accessed on the current charge schedule. We also approved our first Corporate plan for the Livingstone Shire, this document sets out our goals for the council in five key areas, and the strategies we intend to use to get us there... I know this may seem dry, but please read over the photos attached as they present the vision of council for our shire, and will be our guide in determining priorities for the future. I am most proud of how we have sort to articulate that every community in our shire may have different aspirations and our job will be to support communities be the best they want to be! We also amended the park hire fee for private use. Under the previously approved schedule no discount applied to usages which did not require post event council clean up. This was halved to 50% of the general fee! This is not a new fee or discount but just an amendment to rectify a mistake identified in the previous schedule. An motion was passed to support the Emu Park IGA in seeking permission to trade on a Sunday. We dont have the authority to grant this permission but our opinion was sought as to whether it should be considered by the State Government. The officers advice was that public consultation will be required of the applicant prior to approval, so if you have any opinion.... please make sure you keep an eye out for the public notice. Beyond approving an MCU ( Material change of use) for a family installing a granny flat on their rural property, thats all for this week. Cheers Nigel
Posted on: Tue, 08 Jul 2014 12:17:10 +0000