The Council media release follows…..

10 March 2010

 Landmark win for the environment in Court for Fraser Coast Regional Council

The Fraser Coast Regional Council successfully prosecuted a Townsville property developer in a landmark environmental protection case in the Magistrate’s Court in Hervey Bay on Monday of this week.

The Council instigated legal action against developer, Wulguru Heights Pty Ltd, (part of the Santalucia group of companies), after several Dundowran Beach residents complained about vegetation clearing on freehold beachfront land at Dundowran Beach in May 2008.

After pleading guilty to clearing vegetation without an effective development permit (under section  4.3.1 of the Integrated Planning Act 1997), Wulguru Heights Pty Ltd was convicted, fined $12,600 and ordered to pay costs of $20,000 to FCRC.  The company was also ordered to rehabilitate the cleared land, starting within six months.

Councillor Sue Brooks said the decision was just.

“It’s great to see the courts taking a tough stand on environmental issues and supporting the Council in its endeavours to protect our natural vegetation and although the rehabilitation will take a long time to mitigate the effects of the bulldozing I think it’s a great leap forward,” she said.

“Land owners need to be very aware that the Council will diligently protect vegetation and we encourage residents to report as soon as possible any vegetation clearing – especially broad scale clearing – that they suspect is illegal.”

When the Council’s Planning Compliance and Vegetation Management Officers investigated the complaints, they found that the 14 hectares of land where the clearing was undertaken, consisted of partially mapped natural areas and regrowth vegetation adjacent to mapped Of Concern and Essential Habitat (black breasted button quail) ecosystems.  No development applications or approvals existed over the land at the time of the clearing. 

The contractor who carried out the vegetation clearing will be sentenced at a later date.

Fraser Coast Regional Council’s Acting Director of Development Services Michael Ellery said the Council was pleased with the result.

“The penalty imposed and rehabilitation orders made by the Court send a strong message to land owners that they cannot pre-emptively clear vegetation and must obtain the appropriate development approvals,” he said.

End

Council staff have provided several options for discussion but I am hopeful that we can analyse the situation objectively and decide on a sensible way forward. I would like to hear from anyone with suggestions on how best to utilise the available funds or what new methods can be used to replace the ‘old’ pool. I suggested a 25m sized pool with 2 x 50m lanes attached to allow for training etc. Pools are very, very expensive to operate so it isn’t just the construction costs we need to consider but the ongoing operational costs. I’m told that very few competitions are held in the pool each year and I don’t think retaining a 50m pool simply for 3 or 4 competitions a year is sensible. So it is on with the debate. Let’s find out all the pros and cons and make a sensible decision based on facts not emotions. And like it or not there are some facilities that residents from both Maryborough and Hervey Bay are going to have to travel to each city to use. Hervey Bay residents travel to the Brolga and I am looking forward to visiting that lovely theatre once again on Sunday to see ‘Cool Change’.

Cr Dalgleish has asked Council to consider introducing advertising on our bus shelters. The advertising income then offsets the costs of installing and maintaining the bus shelters. While I would hate to see advertising plastered over every square inch of spare space around our Fraser Coast the idea has some merit so I hope the advertising can be used in some high traffic areas like Boat Harbour Drive but not on beautiful streets like The Esplanade or in residential areas.

Airports are again in the news with Council deciding to negotiate some leases and also ensure we have a 2030 plan for aviation within the region. With much talk about the future of air travel and the ever attractive idea of a regional airport in the future I believe that this is a sensible decision and I supported it. Airports are expensive to run so obtaining an income from leases etc is an essential ingredient to offset the costs of running them. We can ensure that the airports complement each other not compete against each other.

Lastly Cr Hawes advised Council of the cost of running a Council provided car rather than retaining the use of your private car. This was after a statement made by Cr Dalgleish, at a prior Council meeting, which implied that he was saving the ratepayers money by retaining his privately owned car. Cr Hawes presented the comparable costs to Council this week which shows that reimbursing Cr Dalgleish for the maximum kilometres claimable is about $4000 more expensive to Council than providing the Councillor cars. This is why the majority of Councillors decided to take the Council provided cars.

The rain has been wonderful for us as we have full tanks and dams while not suffering any serious flooding. Have a good weekend and take care as always.

There have been a number of reports recently in the local press about the Council’s alleged obstruction of the proposed expansion of the Centro Shopping Centre located at Boat Harbour Drive, Hervey Bay.

Some of the key elements of this reporting are:

 That Council has not approved the Centro extensions;

 That Council delayed the assessment of the application;

 That Council is unreasonably asking for $1 million in public art;

 That Council is unreasonably asking the developer to construct the mobility corridor and the first leg of the Urraween Distributor connection road; and

 That the wording of the draft Infrastructure Agreement presented to the applicant had been changed to their detriment without the knowledge of the applicant or the Council.

Council’s Development Services staff are concerned that the reporting has not been balanced and contains a number of inaccuracies and errors. The facts and history of the Centro expansion are as follows:

28 June 2006 – the former Hervey Bay City Council granted a Preliminary Approval to DA513/3-031104 for the extension of the centre. The applicant placed the approval on hold on 6 August 2006 to make representations about the conditions. The applicant has not contacted Council about this approval since.

21 March 2007 – Leda Holdings Pty Ltd lodges a new application for a Material Change of Use to extend the Centro shopping centre. The extension is significantly larger than that previously sought.

24 April 2007 – DMR issued an information request;

29 June 2007 – The applicant’s consultant writes to Council to change the application. The effect of this change was to restart the application from the beginning of the process. The change was not requested or required by the Council.

30 August 2007 – The Council requests further information from the applicant about the changed application.

25 September 2007 – the applicant responds to Council’s information request.

7 November 2007 – DMR issued a letter acknowledging receipt of the amended application on 5 November 2007, and also reiterating that their previous request for further information was still outstanding;

8 January 2008 – the applicant responded to DMR’s information request.

27 February 2008 – the DMR directs Council to refuse the application.

4 March 2008 – the applicant requests Council to suspend the decision period to allow them to negotiate with DMR about their refusal.

25 June 2008 – the DMR issues an amended concurrence agency response, approving the application subject to conditions.

19 August 2008 – the applicant writes to Council agreeing to extend the assessment period for the application to allow the applicant more time to submit further information in support of their application.

21 October 2008 – The applicant submits the last of the supporting information for the application.

27 January 2009 – the applicant provides final versions of proposal plans that it wishes Council to approve.

11 March 2009 – Officer report presented to the Council seeking approval for the terms of the Infrastructure Agreement. Council approve the terms as recommended.

19 March 2009 – a copy of the infrastructure agreement is given to Leda Holdings and also emailed to Councillors on the same day. The terms included in the agreement were those decided by the Council at its meeting of 11 March 2009.

24 March 2009 – A representative of Leda emails Council listing concerns with Infrastructure Agreement. Crediting arrangements for the proposed trunk roadworks is not listed as a concern.

25 March 2009 – at a special meeting of the Planning and Development Committee the application for extension to the Centro shopping centre is approved subject to conditions.

15 April 2009 – The Decision Notice for the Development Permit is issued to the applicant in accordance with Council’s decision of 25 March. A letter is also included outlining the infrastructure contributions applicable under the policy at the time.

24 April 2009 – The applicant suspends the appeal period to allow them to make representations about the conditions.

17 May 2009 – electronic copy of Infrastructure Agreement provided to applicant at their request to allow them to forward to their lawyers. The copy provided was not altered in any way from that provided on 19 March 2009.

27 May 2009 – The applicant’s representations are received.

9 September 2009 – Leda Holdings writes to Council agreeing to a credit of $1 million for constructing the trunk roadworks, agrees to build the mobility corridor and offers to provide $500,000 of public art.

15 October 2009 – Council replied to letter of 9/9/09 stating that the proposed reduction in the value of public art is not acceptable.

24 December 2009 – Negotiated Decision Notice issued to the applicant in response to applicant’s representations, agreeing to change a number of the conditions. A new advice letter containing the infrastructure contributions under PSP 4 is also included.

7 January 2010 – representative of Leda Holdings raises first concerns about the proposed credit of $1 million for roadworks.

13 January 2010 – before Council can respond, the Chronicle publishes article claiming that the development is in jeopardy because of the terms of the infrastructure agreement.

15 January 2010 – the Mayor and Chief Executive Officer of the FCRC meet with the developer and their representatives to discuss matters raised in the Chronicle’s article.

27 January 2010 – the Council considers and decides on new terms for the infrastructure agreement as agreed to with the developer.

As this chronology demonstrates, a number of facts are self evident:

1. An approval for extensions to the Centro shopping centre has been in existence since June 2006, and was again approved in March 2009 and December 2009.

2. In the latest application, the applicant was responsible for at least 15 months of delays in deciding the application. Council processes only accounted for four (4) months of the application process.

3. After it received the final plans from the developer in January 2009, the Council decided this major and complex application in less than two months.

4. The infrastructure agreement was not changed from when it was given to the applicant and the Councillors in March 2009. The applicant only raised concerns about alleged changes to wording in January 2010 – ten months after first receiving the agreement.

5. The applicant has agreed in writing to build the mobility corridor and the trunk road shown within their property in Council’s Planning Scheme policy documents. These works were relied on in part to justify a reduction in the number of car parking spaces to be provided by the development, a reduction of 785 parking spaces from the number required by Council’s planning scheme. The works were also required to provide additional community benefit to help offset the impact the proposal would have on other existing shopping centres in the Fraser Coast region.

So yes Graham and I would purchase the Tea Gardens and did in fact attempt to buy them, but the price went up after we had been told our offer was accepted by close to a hundred thousand dollars, and no matter which way we look at it we can’t see a return on the necessary investment. The land is potentially subdivideable which terrifies me as I believe it would be a great shame to lose the lovely local business. The existing conditions relating to the use were the result of a development application to extend the business and not, in my opinion, why the business failed.

Council meets this week to discuss sport and recreation issues and opening hours for the waste sites at Granville, Tinana, Yengarie and Bauple. A hard one as the survey shows across the board support for all hours so I am still undecided as to how best we provide a good service that will suit the majority of users. We discuss our Complaints process and review complaints received and check out how we are travelling financially. In confidential we will have the opportunity to see information from our airports land use review. A hot topic for sure. The agenda is available now via the Council web site.

Our Guinea Fowl went walk about last week escaping to the greener (well browner really) forest at the rear of our property. After a couple of days with no sign of them we discovered them wandering around at the end of our street. They didn’t want to follow me home but wandered in on Friday evening so life is back to normal. They are being noisier than they should be so I have threatened to leave the gate open and let them fend for themselves!

Take care, Sue

Then he may have written that Council has already installed warning signs leading up to the intersection, painted a give way sign ahead on the road, repainted the lines at the intersection and have put the additional reflective backgrounds around the give way signs.

Apparently a local truck driver has explained that with a give way sign he can slow down, assess the traffic and if all clear continue across the interesection quickly and smoothly. If he has to stop then he uses more fuel and takes much longer to clear the intersection. Other community members want the Give Way sign to stay.

The recent fatality was extremely sad but if we are to jump into vehicles that can travel faster than the human body was designed to do we take a risk. Each and every time we travel by road we acknowledge that either ourselves or some other road user could make a mistake or act irresponsibly. Our bodies aren’t designed to cope with a sudden stop or impact. Travelling by road is more often than not safe but statistics show that our safety can never ever be guaranteed.

I can own up to one night a while ago now nearly killing myself and Graham. I was not concentrating and drove out onto the Burrum heads Rd instead of stopping where it interesects with Anson’s Rd. I was lucky as no traffic was coming. I was mortified. Am still. I know the road well as I have used it for years but still on that particular night I made a mistake. I’m still not sure why but the fact remains I did. Most of us are lucky and live to tell the tales of our near misses or do what I have done till now and never admit them for the embarassment that they are.

So while I agree that roads contribute to safety and should be designed well and maintained and upgraded the reality is that we have many ‘old’ roads built to a lower standard than would be accepted today and we need to be careful when we drive.

My heart is heavy with sadness for the lifelong burden that one young girl will have to carry. There but for the grace of God go many of us! Signs won’t stop people from making mistakes but yes they will help. I don’t want a stop sign when I’m turning left. A Give Way sign is as obvious to me as is a Stop Sign. They both require a driver to approach a crossing with caution and be ready to stop. I don’t believe a stop sign versus a give way sign is the issue.

The real issue is to take care while driving, be doubly aware on a strange unfamiliar road and never stop concentrating when driving on familiar roads either. Statistics show the majority of accidents happen near our homes.

Please tell Council if you think a road needs attention and if crossings require upgrading. While we can’t fix every problem road tomorrow, we can budget to paint lines, improve signage and install warning signs and slowly but surely upgrade our road network. Upgrading roads is expensive and we simply can’t afford to do every road now!

So take care and help us by identifying areas needing attention but also by driving carefully. Cr David Dalgleish is the appropriate Councillor to contact as he is Chair of the relevant portfolio.

Lastly for Mr Chapman just in case he doesn’t know…. The CEO does the Council bidding. In that he is the servant of Council.  His job is to see that Council and other Government policy and legislation is carried out. If you desire that our policies need changing it is the elected members that can make the changes not the CEO.

Hervey Bay City Council in fact gave the green light over 2.5 years ago. Recently the development has been extended with a further parcel of land adjoining the site at 23 Main St approved in December last year. I expect that the developers may need to seek an extension of time if they cannot commence construction within the allocated time frame allowed after gaining their approval in 2007.

The face of Hervey Bay is set to change dramatically if all the approved developments go ahead. There are many other significant 8 storey developments and mixed use developments already approved but not commenced. Two examples that come to mind are the redevelopment of the Beach house Hotel to 8 storeys and the site on Boat Harbour Drive diagonally opposite Bunnings. While I don’t support and haven’t ever supported wall to wall high rise alongside our foreshore I believe this Charles/Main St development will be a positive step in revitalizing the ‘beach end’ of Main St. 

FYI Details of approvals…

 513/3-051287 – Approved 15 August 2007 – Invergowrie Properties P/L – MCU- Multiple Units in Excess of Two Storeys & Shops (245 Units & Shops) & ROL – 3 Lots into 2 Lots – 16-18 & 20 Charles St Pialba and Lot 3 Charles St Pialba

513/3-051288 – Approved 15 August 2007 – Invergowrie Properties P/L – MCU- Multiple Units in Excess of Two Storeys (12), Shops, Office & Restaurants  – 9-25 Main Street Pialba

513/3-081847 – Approved 9 December 2009 – Invergowrie Properties P/L – MCU – Offices & Shops – 23 Main Street Pialba

While mowing I ponder. I ponder all the things I haven’t done that need doing. Who needs a return call, who needs me to visit and how many outstanding resident queries are still needing a bit of follow up or a watchful eye. I try to check to see if Council staff are able to address the issue raised by residents or do I as a Councillor need to ask for some changes to policy or strategy etc? Sometimes I ponder other stuff but recently Council pondering has been very dominant.

So while the newspaper headline asking for me to be ‘got rid of’ didn’t upset me as I was expecting it, it did raise the issue of how the media reporting influences the public perception of our politicians. I was pleased Saturday night that a representative from the River Heads Progress Assoc. took the time to ring me to assure me that the association in no way supported the comments by the grumpy resident nor had they ever passed a motion in support of his request to have 3 gum trees removed.

I always tend to believe what I read and what I’m told. Maybe because I’m not one to twist the truth myself I find it bizarre that others regularly practice truth bending. This particular resident has several times stated that he had the support of this local community group in his quest to have the offending trees removed. In this instance the truth is more than welcome.. Plus I received an email from one of his neighbours who also doesn’t support his tree removal agenda… It is always difficult to represent ‘everyone’ but even more so in relation to topics that divide our community. In other words be active and express your opinion as staying quiet means your representatives don’t hear you and if they are like me and try to faithfully represent majority opinion, then we may be acting on the opinion of the actual minority!

Lastly on the bullying allegations. There isn’t much to release as nearly the entire report consisted of transcripts and the people involved are protected by legislation. It does seem to me it was a matter of people being unhappy with a new regime.  However I detest the stupid connection between politicians and staff. Politicians are supposed to be separated from staff and not have any power over sacking or hiring them. But in practice this seems to be dodgy. Look at the recent Kaiser appointment for instance. Locally the Mayor has a big influence as he can hire and fire the CEO and direct him to do his bidding. Something Councillors individually can’t do. Councillors can be involved in hiring and firing at the top level of staff which is a big responsibility that needs to be handled ethically and objectively.

No excuses however and also an apology on offer for taking so long between posts. I keep saying to myself that I must write more often but (and there always seems to be a but) I just run out of time! The days when I don’t have meetings or functions are devoted to trying to stay on top of correspondence and doing a bit of investigating on how residents queries are going, researching etc… and then my house needs cleaning, the puppies need hugging and brushing and walking and my garden needs weeding and mowing. Graham needs the odd hello also. But (there’s that pesky b word again) I was determined not to whinge so I will simply ask you to have patience and pop me an email if you would like me to address a particular issue via this site.

Now this week in Council we dealt with various issues including forming a committee to manage our Sister City relationships with Crs Hovard and Harris and Kruger nominated. We received responses about petitions and awarded contracts for works including another link of the mobility links corridor which will continue the corridor through to Urraween Rd from McLiver St. Council posts a media release with some further detail about the meeting for those interested on our web site.

In General Business Crs Muckan and Dalgleish announced they have decided to donate their pay rise (or part of it) to charity. I think they were a bit cranky as I had mentioned at a community meeting the manner in which a politician can very cleverly vote against something while all the time knowing that the majority of votes will be in favour (or the opposite). I wondered out loud what the Councillors would do with a pay rise that they obviously didn’t want because they voted against it! I am glad that the Councillors are following through on their committment by donating to deserving charities.

I used General Business  to ask the CEO about how he can address the issues of staff morale and loss of public confidence in Council brought about by recent and persistent negative media coverage. I also included reference to the excellent editorial that Scott Rowe wrote in The Indy last Friday which outlined the danger of Council or Councillors acting in response to the activities of one newspaper editor driving a specific agenda. Lastly I asked the CEO how can Council better respond to requests for information from the media so that we can respond in a prompt and accurate fashion. I don’t enjoy reading that Council either couldn’t be contacted or didn’t return calls. This can also be misleading to readers as sometimes Council has returned calls and provided info within the time frames given but this has not been acknowledged.

So today I find that The Chronicle editor has responded to my brief speech and thinks I’m out of line. My response on reading the editorial was -”Why is it OK for the paper to criticise Council but not OK for Council or myself to criticise the paper?” I am obviously on the losing horse here so to move forward I await tomorrow’s edition as I am sure I will feature predominantly yet again. A resident spoke out on Wednesday at Council in public participation about a Council decision to retain 3 gum trees located on the River Heads public foreshore directly in front of this gentlemans house between his property and the water. I defended the Council position but the resident is very unhappy. Unhappy with me, with Council staff and with the trees! He wants us to remove them.

So I retire tonight wondering what angle the story will take. Council is not perfect. We make mistakes but maybe if people could alert a Councillor to the problems they are having with Council we can assist before the situation develops to a stage where people believe they are being wronged. Some of the issues covered recently within the pages of our paper were news to me! So do give me a yell as soon as any problem with Council develops. The sooner we hear about an issue the sooner we can ask questions and make changes if needed. Staff are tasked primarily to implemt Council ‘rules’. It is us, the elected members, who have the power collectively, to change or adapt rules that are not working properly. The local paper and other media are a necessary and essential tool in our community so I want to use it for good purposes not continually criticise it.

Fingers crossed we can find a middle ground where stories are balanced and accurate and not just a screaming headline. I will also do my best to find the accurate answer to questions posed in the Chronicle pages in relation to Council.

PS. Xavier parking. It seems that the so called ‘car park’ that Council locked is in fact a public park. When I have more detail next week I will let you all know.

PPS You may have missed the addition of a new link on the top of the home page. There is a subscription service available now so each time I write you will receive an email letting you know there is something new here. So if you want an easy way to keep track of my blog activity try it out and let me know what you think. Cheers, Sue

It has always bothered me that keeping on ‘good terms’ with the local newspaper editors is seen as an essential ingredient by politicians around the country. If a politician does not build a positive relationship with an editor they run the risk of receiving negative coverage in the newspaper. This is even more pronounced when political party allegiance enters into the equation.

All politicians should be given equal and unbiased and uncensored tretament as should all members of our community. I often wonder what it is about the human animal that makes us so quickly attracted to the sensationalist headlines and trivail pre occupations with who said what that invariably increases sales and brings in more dollars for the media entity.

So thank you Scott for your well written editorial this week and also a special thank you to Stephen O’Grady for his coverage of this weeks Council Meeting. Stephen took the time to peruse our agenda and wrote a very accurate account of development related information that was printed yesterday in The Chronicle. Thank you Stephen.

My thoughts on the use of the media have received some interesting comment and I still wonder at what the best method of getting Council news and information out and about is. Any way I will continue to do my best to communicate in every way I can and welcome the feedback.

On some stories that did make the Chronicle last week I offer some comment. In relation to REST. I believe REST mis interpreted the terms of their contract and didn’t fully appreciate that Council was obligated to re advertise. Council has to follow Laws designed to give everyone a fair chance to compete for its services etc so a public process was inevitable. After amalgamation it was decided by Council to align waste services recycling with the process already implemented at Nikenbah. This system means a benefit to all. The community benefits by getting a monetry return for the rights to manage recycling. The community group of volunteers makes an income and employs trainees etc which benefit another wide group of people. I don’t think REST even tendered for the Maryborough operation and I do think that an examination of how much of their previous large income was directly distributed to the community would show that by comparison, the current system has a better and wider return to the community at large.

The ‘gate’ at Xavier. Will ask for more details but apparently a park was being used for access to the school. Council has an obligation in terms of safety etc so I’m interested in learning more. When I do I will report my findings.

Chinese New Year. No Council prior to amalgamation, to my knowledge, organised a Chinese New Year function. In Hervey Bay some staff and Councillors sometimes went to China Pearl for dinner! So why it was reported that we aren’t holding a function is a mystery to me.

Car Parking at Torquay etc. I will enquire as to patrols to ensure people are aware of the 2 hour limit. I would like to see a consistent approach to car parking be given across the region. Specifically the CBD areas.

Lastly here are the two media releases Council and UDIA have jointly written. Enjoy!

MEDIA RELEASE

08 February 2010

Fraser Coast Regional Council and UDIA see a bright future

The UDIA and Fraser Coast Regional Council see a bright future for the Fraser Coast.

The two groups meet for the second time on Friday (February 5) as part of regular consultative meetings aimed at improving communications between the two.

Fraser Coast Mayor Mick Kruger and UDIA Fraser Coast Branch president Daniel Poacher, were enthusiastic about the level of commitment, co-operation and open and honest communication between the two groups on some of the tough issues to be addressed in the region.

The meeting provided some great outcomes and directions for both parties.

“We have the feeling that in working together well balanced decisions will be made for the betterment of the entire Fraser Coast,” Mr Poacher said.

“The UDIA is very appreciative of the council’s commitment to the Memorandum Of Understanding between the UDIA and Council and feel that following today’s forum the development industry in our region can start to gain some long overdue momentum,” he said.

“The sustainable growth strategy and structure planning projects currently underway by council show that they are serious about the importance of the development industry for our region’s economy.”

At the meeting the Council provided updates on the sustainable growth strategy as well as the Doolong Flats Structure Plan.

The Council has assured the UDIA that it will be included as part of the consultation process for both projects to provide valuable input to assist council achieve the best outcome.

The Doolong Flats Structure Plan should be finished before the end of the financial year.

Infrastructure charges were also discussed at the meeting. It was agreed that a forum involving the full council and UDIA will be held on March 2 to further discuss ways to encourage development activity without placing undue hardship on the Council’s budget.

Many ideas were floated including the possible “cap” of charges at a flat rate.

“We all agreed that something needed to be done to stimulate the local economy by making it viable for developers, business owners and anyone in the community to kick off projects in our region,” Mr Poacher said.

“This will have positive flow on effects for employment and business on the Fraser Coast.”

The Council’s Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Brien confirmed the previous commitment made towards the end of 2009 that Council would work with developers that had “shovel ready projects” to get these projects up and running.

Shovel ready projects are those that have all the necessary approvals in place and are just waiting on funding to come through so that they can commence.

Projects that will be considered are new projects that create employment in both the construction stage and lead to ongoing employment, as well as existing projects which have been placed on hold because of the combination of the global financial crisis and the increases in infrastructure charges.

The UDIA and Council will work together to identify suitable projects and look for solutions to bring these projects forward.

ENDS

MEDIA RELEASE

08 February 2010

Shovel ready developments

The Fraser Coast Regional Council has for many months indicated that it is prepared to review its infrastructure contributions for shovel ready projects.

Council believes that by facilitating any new substantial development which will provide significant economic input into the building economy, it will directly assist many of its ratepayers and have a flow-on effect indirect helping many more businesses in the region.

Council would like any developer that plans to carry out substantial development in the immediate future to contact it to discuss and review the existing trunk infrastructure contribution rates.

As an indication Council, where appropriate, will consider reducing the infrastructure rates for projects that fall within the following parameters:

1: The necessary development approvals have been issued;

2: Architectural plans have been prepared;

3: Engineering and service designs have been completed;

4:Preliminary quantity surveying has been completed;

5: Construction can commence within six months and be completed within two years.

Even if your development does not fall within these parameters, please contact Council’s Economic Development Unit or the Fraser Coast branch of the UDIA to discuss your project.

The UDIA in conjunction with the Council have agreed that they will endeavour to support any good development and would be happy to assist in facilitating this.

Council’s Economic Development Manager, Andrew Jackson, can be contacted on 4190 5745.

The UDIA can be contacted by calling branch president Daniel Poacher on 4124 1683.

ENDS

I’m interested to know how many ‘developers’ have left because of ‘Council’ and how we can attract new business that won’t negatively impact heavily on existing business. I still personally believe we don’t need more residential development in Hervey Bay just now as I think we are suffering from over supply. But what do you think?