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Dear Mayor,

I believe you have been away and have just returned from leave. Welcome back to the hot issue of the Council’s proposed Dalkeith redevelopment.

Let me introduce myself to you. My name is Paola Lovi. I am a Dalkeith resident. I am a lawyer by profession.

I was appointed Chairperson of the “People against Dalkeith Density Incorporated” on Saturday and so now am their official spokesperson.
If you would like any information from me pls use this email and my mobile no. 0407 989 573.

To bring you up to speed:

PADD held an information walk on Sunday (today) for 2.5 hours hosted by Professor Martyn Webb and Max Hipkins both of whom have extensive town planning and architectural experience. It was put together at short notice and advertised to residents by letter drops. A total turn out of around 200 to 300 people was achieved. All who attended were irate with Council and had had little or no notification from Council about any of the concept plan proposals;
PADD’s membership has grown as a result of this and we are being bombarded by telephone calls, emails, donations and applications for membership;
PADD produced a flyer stating its objectives and what residents can do to make sure that they have a voice on this issue;
PADD had a petition signed by those in attendance which will be presented to Council tomorrow (Monday). The petition expresses opposition to the concept of the proposed Dalkeith redevelopment and asks for an extension of the public written feedback 15 Feb deadline to a later date to allow for the public to be properly informed and consulted on it;

5.this week’s Post has done two articles on the issue.

Would you like a copy of the flyer which states where PADD is coming from?

To date, it would be fair to say that you, as Mayor, have offered no support to the Dalkeith residents who are crying out in opposition to the concept plan and you have given them no answer as to your position on the issue and what you intend doing about it.

So far the Council has done the following to inform the community of the concept plan –

placed two small not prominent ads in the Post in 12/07 referring to a public meeting being held in Dec 07. The ads did not refer at all to any proposed redevelopment plans for Dalkeith. They stated that the subject matter was Built Form Guidelines. Few people knew what this was and there was little community response;
the second attempt was a letter from Council that was supposed to have been sent to all Dalkeith ratepayers. To date I have not received that letter and only one person I know in the community has done so.

Is this giving the public any information or notice at all?? Do you think this is fair to your electors, residents and ratepayers?

To date, the only notification I have personally had of the concept plan came via PADD’s first pamphlet drop a few weeks ago.

A few of us canvassed Dalkeith residents at Cimbalino today over a four hour period and very few knew of the existence of the concept plan let alone any redevelopment proposal for the area.

It has been handled very badly by Council. Is Council trying to railroad the community or has it genuinely misjudged public sentiment and made a big mistake in acting as it has on the issue to date?

All is not yet lost. You can rectify the situation and redeem yourself by showing strong leadership and coming out publicly to state your views and position. If Council has made an error of judgment and is willing to redress that then just come out and say so and you might meet with an understanding and favourable response from the community – however, I suggest you do this very soon. You have a very unhappy and irate community of electors, residents and ratepayers. Community reaction to the concept plan has only just begun – rest assured of that.

If you want to respond to the community via a statement to me/PADD then please let me know.

Regards
Paola Lovi.