In October 2013 the Independent Local Government Review Panel released its final report ‘Revitalising Local Government’. The report made 65 recommendations including proposed mergers between metropolitan councils in Sydney. As part of these recommendations the Panel‟s preferred option for Willoughby is to amalgamate with neighbouring councils Lane Cove, North Sydney, Mosman, Hunters Hill and part of Ryde.

In October 2014 the Office of Local Government released the Fit for the Future framework which denotes the following characteristics for a council to be „Fit for the Future‟:

Has the scale and capacity to engage effectively across community, industry and government
Financially Sustainable
Efficient
Effectively manages infrastructure and delivers services for communities

At the recent Northern Sydney Councils’ Fit for the Future Symposium, held on 5 February at The Concourse Civic Pavilion, it was noted that addressing „Scale and capacity is the first hurdle in Fit for the Future documents, financial sustainability is subordinate‟ and that „Under Fit for the Future, a council is deemed to have scale and capacity if the Panel‟s recommended amalgamation configuration is adopted. No justification is provided by government, or required from the councils that are to merge‟. The option of forming Joint Organisations is available to rural councils, however this option has not been extended to metropolitan councils.

Further, at the Fit for the Future Symposium it was evident that while some councils have resolved to either accept or reject the proposed amalgamations, others, including Willoughby, are yet to make a decision on their position. The key point made at the Symposium was that „The Government‟s objective is that there are amalgamations in Metropolitan Sydney to significantly reduce the number of councils‟.

At this stage other councils in the Northern Region have declared the following positions on the issue of amalgamation

Hunters Hill: Position to be confirmed at Council meeting within the next month.

Lane Cove: Resolved to oppose forced amalgamations on 21 January 2015 Extraordinary Meeting of Council.

Mosman: Mayoral Minute 4 June 2013 opposing forced amalgamation.

North Sydney: North Sydney Council‟s current position is that; „Council has affirmed it is fit for the future as a stand-alone council, but has agreed to hold discussions with neighbouring councils and to explore other options. A public meeting is to be held on 23 February to discuss options.

Ryde: Extraordinary General Meeting held Tuesday 17 February, Ryde – at the time of preparing this report – proposed to reaffirm its objection to forced amalgamations.

Hornsby: At 12 November 2014 meeting Council resolved to „undertake discussions with our neighbouring councils regarding the possibility of merging with one or a number of those councils to create a new entity which meets the Scale and Capacity requirements of the Government.‟
A further report is to be prepared in early 2015.

Ku-Ring-Gai: 25 June 2013 Council resolved: A. That Council not proceed with discussions on amalgamation as the disadvantages for Ku-ring-gai residents far outweigh any perceived advantages. B. That we encourage and participate with NSROC in investigating opportunities to increase the range of resource and services sharing.

Willoughby Council, will need to decide if it will prepare a Council Improvement Proposal making an argument that Council has the scale and capacity to stand alone (known as template 2) or a Council Merger Proposal (known as template 1).

It is therefore suggested that Councillors hold a workshop to clarify the options and to ascertain a preferred position. This workshop is scheduled for the first week in March and forms part of the attached timelines.

At its February meeting the Willoughby Traffic Committee considered a number of items pertinent to West Ward.

Anderson St & Victoria Avenue: Problems with cars blocking intersection and conflict between cars and pedestrians. Resolved: RMS asked to carry out Safety Audit.

Mowbray Rd West, east of Felton: Pedestrian refuge does not meet current standards. Resolved: Refuge to be upgraded.

Archer & Victoria: Pedestrian countdown timers have produced positive responses. Resolved: Request to RMS to leave timers in place and to install timers at additional locations.

Hatfield St, Lane Cove North and Mowbray Rd West: Mowbray School has requested installation of temporary pedestrian crossings. Resolved: Temporary crossings to be installed.

In addition, various works have been approved in Lone Pine Avenue to resolve problems with bus movements;

Read Full Report

NSW Roads and Maritime (RMS) have released road crash statistics for the period 2009-20013 for the Willoughby area. There were 3 fatal crashes in 2013 (up from 2 in 20012) and compared with a five average of 1.2. Injury crashes are reducing somewhat from a high of 167 in 2001 to 158 in 2013 (av, of 156).  Non-casualty crashes show a similar trend with 236 in 2013 c.f av. 258. Total crashes in 2013 were 397 c.f 5 year average of 415.

The main contributing factors in crashes were alcohol, speed and fatigue. Willoughby crashes generally rank lower than the Sydney and NSW statistics.

Locations with 3 or more speed related crashes were:

1. Gore Hill/Pacific Highway – 13
2. Fullers/Millwood Avenue including Greville (3), McLean (3) – 13
3. Herbert/Ella – 13
4. Eastern Valley Way/Victoria Avenue – 12
5. Epping Rd/Mowbray Rd – 11
6. Gore Hill at Reserve Rd – 5
7. Pacific/Mowbray – 3
8. Hampden/McMillan – 3
9. Boundary/Archer – 3

So around 40% of crashes occurred within the West Ward (due in part to the Pacific Highway, Mowbray Rd and Epping Rd and  Fullers Rd/Millwood Avenue.

There were 5 pedestrian crashes at Railway/Help and Pacific Highway/Herbert St; 4 at Hampton/Broughton and Victoria/Springs and 3 at Victoria/Stanley and Victoria/Bertram. Unlike vehicle crashes which were predominately on main roads, pedestrian crashes showed significant number in residential areas.

Pedal cyclist crashes occurred at Willoughy/Small – 2; Albert/Orchard – 2; Sailors Bay Rd/Bellambi – 2 plus six other locations.

During the 2009-2013 analysis period, Willoughby drivers only accounted for 17% of major accidents.

So, a lesson to be learned, if you are driving through Willoughby (and particularly West Ward) don’t do so if you are drunk; don’t speed and don’t drive if you are tired.

Source: 2015 Willoughby Crash Analysis Report (FULL REPORT)

The rebuilding of Mowbray School to accommodate up to 1,000 (up from the 300 at present) is progressing. The majority of residents and members of the school community are happy with the plans that ensure that the playground and oval will not be built on. This plan requires the demolition of the relatively new Library (rebuilt after a fire). However, in its place will be a bigger and arguably better library.

the Daily Telegraph recently ran a negative headline about the school  “$1m down the drain as library flattened”. However, article also articulates the background, reasoning and community support for this important project.

Over 60 people recently attended a meeting called by Visionstream and Optus at the Chatswood Golf Club.

As outlined in an earlier post, Optus is proposing to install a 30 or 32 M Telecommunications tower on Golf Course land. The proposed site is in the middle of the Club’s car park and will impact on many nearby residents.

Optus has engaged Visionstream to undertake community consultation. They had only notified 24 households (mainly in Colwell Crescent). The notification letter was in a nondescript envelope delivered during the holiday period.

The Clubhouse was packed with local residents. There was a smattering (6) of Optus/Visionstream staffers on hand . On questioning, Visionstream said their intention was to have ‘one-on-one’ sessions with residents to answer question.

This is a typical community consultant’s strategy to ‘divide and conquer’ residents .

It was pointed out to Visionstream that it was rather difficult to ask a question when nobody really knew what was being proposed. However, Visionstream persisted that they were there to answer questions in a one on one situation.

Former Councillor Terry Fogarty, now of the Chatswood West Ward Progress Association, addressed the throng and confirmed that the community’s expectation was to have a presentation from Optus/Visionstream. This was very reluctantly agreed to.

Optus outlined the proposed location of the tower in the golf course carpark. The first issue canvassed related to what alternative sites had been considered. This included St Peter’s Green which was rejected as the owners did not consent to the proposal. This site was also rejected because of concern for elderly residents. The Visionstream representative commented that places such as aged care are considered community sensitive. It was stated that alternative sites on both the course and the local area were considered but rejected. This was primarily for technical reasons but also because the land owners did not consent to the proposal. The location of other Optus towers were also discussed as telecommunications providers are required to consider co-localisation with other facilities prior to the installation of a new site. Other sites mentioned included existing sites in far-away Artarmon, the Chatswood Tennis club and sites in the commercial zone at the bottom of Mowbray Road. So it is obvious there are many alternative sites outside of Chatswood Golf Club that could be chosen. The resident’s view is that the Golf Club site was selected because it is the lowest cost option. In addition, the Golf Club has provided consent to Optus for the installation of the proposed facility and entered in to a lease agreement. At the meeting no alternative sites on the golf course were discussed and questions relating to this were deflected by Visionsteam and Optus and answers evasive.

The Golf Club President addressed the meeting. He claimed that the Club is  in a dire financial position and that if the deal didn’t go ahead it may be forced to close (it would be interesting to analyse the Golf Club’s financial accounts ). The President also said that if they sold their land it is likely the outcome would probably be the construction of multi-storey units on the land. Any development on the land in the event that the Club was required to be sold would need to be approved by Willoughby Council. Land adjacent to the Club along Colwell Crescent is currently zoned as 2A Scenic Protection and E4 Environmental Living. The Golf Club owns most of the site (except for a small potion leased from Willoughby Council near the Fullers Bridge).

The proposed tower will co-host Vodafone antennas. If Telstra wanted to use the tower they would need to sign contracts with Optus and the Golf Club.

There will be a DA lodged with Willoughby Council. Optus stated that Council is the determining consent authority.

The information provided on three panels for the session included a design sketch of the tower and location, pictures of the proposed tower superimposed onto the carpark and behind a house in Colwell Crescent and a ‘location map’ of other Optus sites in the area. The information was not yet available on the a web site (rfnsa.com.au/2067030). However,  Visonstream and Optus representatives promised to advise people who left their email address when information would be available on the web.

Residents were unhappy with the timing of the meeting (between 4 pm and 6 pm on a weekday afternoon) Visionstream and Optus agreed to hold another meeting outside of business hours before the DA is lodged.

Clr. Saville has posted the following update:A few local matters:

A few local matters:

• Proposal for Optus telecommunications tower on Chatswood Golf course
• Waiting to hear govt intentions re proposed sale/lease of the southern campus RNSH
• Departure Nick Tobin &Greg Woodhams  Tracey & Tony have done an excellent job as Acting GM.
• New GM starts first week in Feb
• Anticipated chaos expected re closure  Chatswood to Epping rail leg, construction new line, & replacement bus services
• Australia Day in the Pavilion a great success
• Report expected to come to council re planning propososal for Pacific Hway & Oliver
• Opening Mental Health centre Hercules St (former Westview) 17th Feb

I wish to draw Council’s attention to what I believe is a breach of operating conditions at the Westfield Car Park entry in Anderson St (it may well apply to all entrances).

A resident writes:

Dear Chief Librarian, 

The reason(s) ‘ Blueprint for Success – 50 years of Meriton’
has been procured and placed on the shelf in the Library
is beyond me.

‘ A corporate propaganda’ , one comments.

An advertising product with the sole purpose of self-promotion,
it has no place therein to take up council resources.

Let their blueprint for success be kept to themselves, outside
of this library.

Thank you for your time,

Sincerely,

A resident has expressed the following concern about a proposed Optus Mobile Phone Tower on Chatswood Golf Course.

Scramble to the top!

Recently released figures on how much candidates spent on the recent Mayoral Election make quite interesting reading,

In total, nine candidates spent nearly $300,000. The plum role of Mayor (in this instance being for just two years) was worth around $140,000. The lowest amount spent was just $2,450. The highest spend was over $110,000 (more than a third of the total spend by all candidates). A Councillor who has previously stood at two previous Council Mayoral elections spent $63,000. His total spend over the three times he has unsuccessfully stood as Mayor is probably well over $100,000.

The successful candidate, Mayor Gail Giles-Gidney, spent just $41,000. This proves that just spending money on more and more glossy brochures does not guarantee success.

As mentioned above, we are required to re-elect a Mayor in September 2016. It will be interesting to see how much candidates tilt at the role of Mayor next time.