WELL ITS OFFICIAL: We can report that at this weeks Council meeting, commercial development options for the Point Lonsdale Lighthouse Reserve were rejected – see link below. This is great news and we acknowledge the Councils positive response to overwhelming community rejection of development on public Crown land. Despite the Council putting a positive spin on this outcome, it is a somewhat bitter-sweet result. Ironically, in pursuing unviable commercial options, the Council has spent the equivalent of 10 years of Reserve maintenance funding on consultancies which could have been allocated to fixing urgent problems on the site. Promoting, then killing off such an unpopular idea, has come at a significant reputational and financial cost to the Council which it could have easily avoided with a better understanding of the communitys social and environmental values. The whole process has shone a harsh light on how the Council goes about its business - certainly its decision-making is more under the microscope than ever. It is an unfortunate observation that, despite being a government body, the Councils public consultation process is reluctantly undertaken. Regaining community trust will take genuine effort and we remain hopeful that this can occur. Nevertheless we must be grateful a catastrophe has been avoided which would have further alienated the community for the Council and ruined our wonderful Reserve. Christmas in October indeed. queenscliffe.vic.gov.au/council/news-and-notices/news/item/council-listens-to-the-community-to-shape-the-future
Posted on: Fri, 24 Oct 2014 09:37:39 +0000
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