COMMUNITY
ACTION
GROUP
PO Box 325 Bungendore 2621
bungendore@hotmail.com
Newsletter July 02
Bungendore Community Action Group
Newsletter May '02
Who are we?
The group comprises ratepayers from all parts of the Bungendore area, who meet regularly to share concerns about the development called Bungendore North and other issues in relation to our village. We have no formal structure or fixed membership – we welcome anyone who wishes to pitch in and help with our cause.
Some of the people connected with this group are: Graham Parton (6238 0073) Annabel Beith (6238 1915) Bruce Pettit & Kate Soulsby (6238 0004), Robert Hunt (6238 0404), Charlie Robinson (6238 1357) and Mike Wilkins (6238 1164).
What are our aims?
Broadly, we aim to minimise any negative impacts on our community and our lifestyle from this or any other development. We hope to achieve this by encouraging the open discussion of concerns about any aspect of the development, and making them heard by our elected representatives on Yarrowlumla Council. We also hope to
galvanise local support for our belief that it is “not a done deal”, by:
· passing on info via regular public meetings and other means eg this newsletter, a stall on Gib St, etc
· organising community events that focus on aspects of our lifestyle that could be adversely affected by the development eg the Common;
· scrutinising the processes followed to date by Council and past and present developers;
· scrutinising the findings of Council’s exploratory surveys conducted as part of the planning process (eg water availability study, environmental impact study).
The story so far
About 180 local ratepayers attended a public meeting in the Memorial Hall on April 15th to discuss the details of the Bungendore North development. The impressive turnout can be taken as a measure of community concern, and the lively discussion was captured in a series of questions to the Council about all aspects of the development. (You can still see a copy of these questions on the supermarket noticeboard or on our web site). These were delivered to Council a few days later, to give them time to prepare their responses before a Council meeting to be held in the Bungendore School Hall on April 30th.
However, come April 30th, Clr Miles Flanagan could still only reply that a response was “being prepared”. The audience of 200 or so residents was obviously disappointed.
Meanwhile Council’s PR machine cranked into top gear. Rates notices were delivered with a message from the Mayor under the heading “Bungendore North plan was approved in 1993”, and there is a long letter from the Mayor on the same theme in the latest Bungendore Bulletin. Cr Terry Bransdon also contributed a column along the same lines; in fact almost everything we hear from the Council is that it is a done deal. Alex Brinkmeyer reinforced this with a comment in the Canberra Times that the development was a fait accompli.
Finally on 8 May we e-mailed the General Manager giving a clear name and contact number for the response. A day later the response arrived.
At first we had trouble understanding it, as it didn’t seem to address some of the more important questions we had asked.
The key points though are:
· Development approval has been granted for 100 houses
· Council’s idea of “extensive public consultation” is a ratepayers public meeting, the proposal being put on public display, and a two-day workshop, all nine years ago.
· The whole question of how Council decided to triple the Shire population and double Bungendore’s population is summed up with the line “Part of the common goals of the two day public workshop”. That’s it! Just one of several points that four consultants talked about nine years ago has resulted in a policy to have the most spectacular population increase in the Shire’s history!
· As for the detail – the answers are too many to fit in this newsletter but we will display them on our web site (see below)
· And the S94 money raised as a result of the development? That at least will stay in Bungendore.
Councils General Purpose Meeting Tuesday 14th May
Last Tuesday was the first time Council had met since the meeting of 30 April. Miles Flanagan presented a list of possible actions to Council in relation to the development and all were approved. These included a local noticeboard to advise residents of upcoming approval applications, a Bungendore North Web site and a number of other initiatives to improve communication between the community and Council.
Tip Fire
A fire at the tip over most of the past week has highlighted just how badly our tip is managed. Perhaps those Councillors who ran for office on a “no tip fees” platform can explain their views to the people of Elmslea who now find their houses full of toxic smoke.
We’d also like to hear their views on the leachate that forms as rainwater works its way through rotting carcases and disposable nappies to find its way into the aguifers that are now being bored to find water for the new Elmslea estate.
Future Events
We will have a table set up every second Saturday morning outside the supermarket on Gib Street from 10:00amd to midday. Come and talk to us.
The NSW Greens will be holding a public meeting in Bungendore on 26 May at 2:00pm in the Memorial Hall. The protection of the common is one of the issues they want to talk about.
Some common myths about the development
Not everything you hear about this development is true. Here are some of the comments that add to the confusion.
The development “…was approved after extensive consultation and a weekend workshop open to all residents in 1993” (Ian Marjason, April 1992)
Not quite. This is probably stretching the definition of “extensive consultation” a bit. What really happened was four consultants were given the task of persuading the Bungendore community that it wanted to double in size, and from that premise, to discuss how that might happen. Council does not appear to have any record of how many people turned up at this “weekend workshop” but overwhelming anecdotal evidence from people who were there suggests there was just as much opposition then as there is now. One Councillor even wanted to put on record his strong objection to the consultation process that had taken place. In any case, even if somehow Council could somehow reach the conclusion that this is what the people of Bungendore wanted, it clearly isn’t any more.
“The development is a fait accompli,” (Alex Brinkmeyer, Canberra Times 1 May 2002).
According to Councillor Flanagan, what Mr Brinkmeyer has proposed is merely a “concept plan” that has not yet been approved by the Council. The Council still has the power to reject Mr Brinkmeyer’s concept plan, however he seems supremely confident that they won’t.