Author Archives: terrypfogarty

Council Mergers

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1 plus 1Councils are being ‘urged to merge’. Proposals are to merge the 42 Sydney Councils into 10 or 15 larger Councils. There is evidence from other States that Council mergers can return significant benefits. In our area, Willoughby Council is being urged to merge with Hunters Hill, Lane Cove, Mosman, and North Sydney. When Willoughby Council was first chartered it included the current area of Lane Cove Council. A large part of the council area was also known as North Sydney.

Currently, Willoughby Council is part of the Northern Regional Organisation of Councils. This includes: Willoughby, Hornsby, Ryde, Kur-ring-gai, Lane Cove Hunters Hill and North Sydney. For planning purposes, Willoughby is part of a regional group comprising Willoughby, Ryde, Lane Cove, Hunters Hill, North Sydney and Mosman.

At this stage, Council mergers are voluntary. However, in the future it is likely that Councils will be denied access to funds unless they merge.

Another issue with Council mergers is local representation (the number of Councillors). In the past many Councils have held referendums about the number of Councillors and Wards. Largely, people have voted to reduce numbers. Take for instance West Ward. There are only two of the three elected Councillors servicing the Ward.

The biggest issue with voluntary mergers is that both senior Council staff and Councillors would be concerned that they may ‘lose their job’.

It will be interesting to see how the State Government progresses this matter.

 

Conflict of Interest ?

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Conflict of Interest

Willoughby Council recently agreed to ‘not oppose’ a proposal by Meriton to increase the size of previously approved buildings of 32 & 29 storeys to 37 & 47 storeys. The week before Council had moved to refuse the application. Why the change of heart? Meriton came back with an offer of $12 million Voluntary Planning Agreement (VPA).

The issue was raised as to whether this constituted a Conflict of Interest for Councillors. Council’s General Manager said it did not.

Dealing a VPA is difficult for a Councillor Usually you are being asked to approve an application that is in excess of the regulations.

 
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Local Projects

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Working in your neighbourhood

Willoughby Council has earmarked funds for a number of projects within the West Ward. Some of these projects are shown in the map. These include:

  • $35,000 for upgrade of the half-sized oval in Greville St (west)
  • A Master Plan for the Youth Centre
  • $50,000 on the Lane Cove River Foreshore
  • $15,000 for O.H.Reid and Ferndale Park track upgrades
  • $130,000 for Kenneth Slessor Park

During my time on Council I found the allocation of project grants to be reasonably fair over a number of years. (Terry Fogarty)

 

If you have any comment about any of these projects, please leave your comment below.

Swimming Pools

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Due to new legislation, pool owners are required to register their swimming pool on a State-wide register before 29 October 2013. The owner of a swimming pool will need to attest that their pool complies with the regulations.

After October 2013, Willoughby Council will commence a program of regular inspection of swimming pool barriers.

As of 29 April, 2014, all residential premises wit ha pool must have a Certificate of Compliance.

You can register your pool at: swimmingpoolregister.nsw.gov.au before 29th October.

Penalties apply if pool is not registered.

Referendum on Local Government

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REFERENDUM: CONSTITUTIONAL RECOGNITION OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT

It is proposed to amend the Constitution to read: The Parliament may grant financial assistance to any State, or to any local government body formed by a law of a State, on such terms and conditions as the Parliament thinks fit.”

Against case: The proposed changes are not a good idea as it will undermine the Authority of the States and will increase the Commonwealth’s power.

For case: In the recent past there have been two court cases where the Commonwealth’s ability to directly fund the delivery of a a myriad of social services by Local Government bodies (such as local Councils). Changing the Constitution as proposed will ensure many social services can continue.

Please consider the detailed information handed out on election day on this matter.

Free WiFi in Mall

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Willoughby Council is one of the first councils in Australia to provide free WiFi access to its community and visitors, with Chatswood Mall in the city’s CBD now wirelessly enabled.

The six month trial service provides 60 minutes of free WiFi at a time to users with a 200 MB download.

Willoughby Mayor, Pat Reilly said the service was aimed at providing support to local businesses within the Mall, and the large numbers of business people working and travelling through the area, as well as leisure visitors and shoppers.

“The free WiFi will be a great asset for Chatswood Mall and the Chatswood CBD in general. We hope it encourages people to come out of their offices to enjoy the mall and its surrounds,” Mayor Reilly said.

“Businesses people can check their emails while grabbing a coffee, or hold outdoor meetings. You can jump on facebook while waiting to meet up with friends, or you can surf on your ipad or laptop while enjoying lunch,” Mayor Reilly said.

The free service will be made available through unobtrusive advertising shown on screens as users log in. 

Changed waste services

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Willoughby Council recently engaged a new waste contractor. There will not be any changes to weekly garbage collections.

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However there are changes to the quarterly rubbish pickups which most people will applaud.

The new arrangements are:

  • Three free bulk general rubbish pickups per annum.
  • One ‘on-call’ free bulk general rubbish pickup
  • Any number of paid ‘on-call’ cleanups

Full details are available at: Council Waste Services

Justice Denied

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The Law Society of NSW has grave concerns about proposed new State Planning Laws.

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One of the biggest concerns they have is the loss of community right to challenge bad planning and development decisions, even in the case of legal error.

The new laws will also deny legal scrutiny of major Ministerial decisions (concerns about bad Ministerial decisions was a major impetus for reform in the first place). An example of this could be if a Minister made a decision to benefit a friend, that would not be subject to public scrutiny.

Above Ground Tunnels?

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The State Government is considering allowing more buildings above railway lines. Planning Minister Hazzard said this would invigorate the Sydney landscape. He called on developers to ‘knock on Sydney’s door”.

The idea would be to construct high-rise residential towers built over railway lines. In one report, St Leonards and Chatswood were mentioned. A key advocate of the current suggestion is Chris Johnson, former State Architect. Johnson was also behind the design of the towers being constructed around Chatswood Station. Johnson is now the CEO of the Urban Taskforce, a key developer lobby group with considerable sway within the government.

Such proposals are likely to result in seventy story towers near heritage buildings

Fullers Bridge Safe?

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Willoughby State member the Hon. Gladys Berejiklian MP was asked recently to investigate the operational life of the Fullers Bridge over the Lane Cove River. She was asked if there are regular inspections undertaken of the bridge. It was pointed out to Gladys that like other bridges across Sydney the bridge may have reached the end of its design life. This request was prompted in response to the Draft Metropolitan Strategy which takes a 2031 horizon for infrastructure projects. The Sydney Harbour Tunnel, completed in 1989, for instance was given a 30 year life span.

Fullers Bridge was built in 1918 (95 years ago). It replaced an earlier wooden bridge at the same location.