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ADDRESS TO PUBLIC MEETING 11 FEBRUARY 2008 BY PAOLA LOVI, CHAIRPERSON, PADD (PEOPLE AGAINST DALKEITH DENSITY)

PADD was formed at the beginning of January 2008 by a group of concerned and interested residents to campaign against the Dalkeith Concept Draft Built Form Design Guidelines dated December 2007 – not only their content but the manner in which they came to be produced and released to the community.

Six weeks later and PADD has 55% of Dalkeith residents signed up to support it and to support the submissions that PADD is making to Council on this issue.

PADD stands for what is in the best interests of the residents of Dalkeith. What the residents of Dalkeith want and what they are entitled to is –

a local government that will properly represent their interests
a local government that is open and transparent
a local government that is accountable
a local government that will take the time to talk to its residents and listen to what is in the best interests of the community and implement it.

I have met with the Mayor, each of the Councillors here tonight and the CEO and the impression I get is that we are being represented by a group of decent and hardworking people.

It is easy for anyone in life to lose sight of what should be the focus of his/her endeavours and sadly, I think that the proposed redevelopment plan for Dalkeith has brought this to the fore with our present Council.

Although most of them were on Council in 2006 and 2007, I have not yet been able to obtain a clear explanation from any of the Coucnil as to what the specific factual circumstances were leading up to and surrounding the production and release of the 81 page Draft Concept Guidelines. I have been forced to piece together the bits and pieces that I have been told and to wade through the many pages of council meeting minutes for the past two years in order to find some answers. Still, after having spent countless hours doing that, there are many more questions thrown up than answers provided. This is very unsettling and is of real concern,

Examples of the questions that still remain unanswered are –

what were the terms of reference given to the independent consultants in Council’s brief regarding the drawing up of a redevelopment plan for Dalkeith?
whose idea was it that the Draft Guidelines document would contain such drastic and radical redevelopment proposals? Who authorised proposals of this magnitude?
why is the content of the Draft Guidelines document such an abhorrent surprise to the community and present Council alike?
what checks and governance procedures did Council follow in briefing the independent consultants and monitoring the content of the Draft Guidelines document before it was released to the community?
what are and where are the Dalkeith Village Shopping Centre Guidelines that seem to have played such an important role in the production of the document?
what petitions were put to Council that have been referred to in Council’s FAQs letter dated 31 January 2008? What exactly was being petitioned and by whom?
what other approaches were made to Council requesting redevelopment as has been referred to in Council’s FAQs letter dated 31 January 2008 ? Who made the approaches and what was sought from Council?
what carparking, traffic, economic and environmental studies were carried out by or on behalf of Council before the Draft Guidelines were produced or released?
why did Council allow such an abhorrent redevelopment plan loose on the Dalkeith community without first checking its appropriateness for Dalkeith?
why did Council allow $50,000 of its ratepayers’ money to be given to independent consultants in exchange for a document that has little or no suitability for Dalkeith?

Council should have by now but has not, conducted any carparking, traffic, economic or environmental studies to see what level of residential and commercial redevelopment Dalkeith is capable of absorbing. How can such a drastic and radical redevelopment plan such as that proposed be even contemplated knowing that these studies have not been undertaken and that these questions have not been addressed?
Is this responsible government?
Is this what we as residents should accept from our Council?
The answer must be a resounding NO.

It is human nature to duck and dive and try to deflect blame from oneself but there is no time for that and there’s no room for that when you are in public office and entrusted with the representation of the interests of others. Whatever blame rests with whatever person at whatever time in all of this, there is one simple solution – FIX IT. Fix it and learn from your experiences. I urge our Mayor and councillors to regroup and focus on the only thing that they should be focusing on and that is how to best represent the interests of your residents. Their duty is not to the State government, it is not to developers – it is to the community. If they reflect honestly on that, the answer will become clear to them – START AGAIN FROM THE BEGINNING and this time follow correct procedures. Go back to the Council meeting minutes and find out for what the drive was for the redevelopment of Dalkeith. Was it properly motivated? Was it properly dealt with? What petitions and formal approaches were made to Council, by whom and when? Go back and check what the terms of reference were to the independent consultants and address how and why they were able to get it so wrong for Dalkeith.

If council does all of these things and follows good governance procedures and communicates and consult swith the community, it will only be then that they will be able to reach the right result for Dalkeith.

Up to this point, a lot of the actions and reactions have been knee jerk and rushed. A lot of time has been wasted in the process. Why does Dalkeith need to be the number priority for Council? Why can’t it be deferred until all the other proposed redevelopment areas have been looked at? Wouldn’t that be more appropriate given the nature of Dalkeith as an established character family suburb? Whose idea was it to change the order of priority of the areas and put Dalkeith first – before Stirling Highway, Broadway, Hampden Road which should logically go first as they already contain built up areas?

I ask Council to change the order of priority and use the time wisely to do all the things which I have mentioned to ensure a fair end result for Dalkeith. I ask them to give me their answer to this after the meeting .

I know that Council is voting on a timeline for the Dalkeith redevelopment plan tomorrow night. I suggest that any timeline starts with a full and frank historical analysis, followed by properly conducted traffic, carparking, economic and environmental studies, followed by communication and consultation with the community.

At the bare minimum, Council should not take any further action in relation to the proposed redevelopment plan until after the 28 February by-election and the new Dalkeith ward Councillor is sworn in. In any event, I ask Council to release the Revised Plans to PADD to look at and consider before they are adopted by Council as the draft. Once a set of plans has been adopted by Council as the draft, it will be much more difficult to undo the wrongs. Why create unnecessary conflict and hostility with the Dalkeith residents by refusing this? We are the ones that have to live in what is created by Council.

I also ask that Council gives me its answer to this after the meeting tonight.

Lastly, I leave you with an offer of assistance from PADD. Given the level of our support amongst the residents of Dalkeith (over 50%), I ask that a PADD nominated person be allowed to be a part of a Council committee established and charged with the responsibility of revising the plans before they are adopted as the draft and released to the community.

I leave that last request with council and ask for an answer after the meeting tonight.

Thank you.

Paola Lovi
Chairperson
PADD