Council could never be accused of acting in haste

One thing that our Council could never be accused of is acting in haste.

The draft plan for the Pearl Beach Lagoon was completed in February 2014 but only submitted to the Minister over three years later in September 2017.

"Project scoping" for the Woy Woy master plan won't commence until July 2018, and the target date for the plan proper is two years later in June 2020.

Council aims to have a technical brief (a month's work at most) prepared for the environmental assessment of Umina beach by June 2018, but there is no timetable for the study itself which will presumably take its usual leisurely course over several years.

In 2013, Council prepared a secret evaluation report on the Warnervale airport project, and the findings of this report have still not been revealed to the ratepayers of the city, even though debate over the airport rages on after five years, while residents remain in the dark about the facts of the case.

One wonders where the interests of the Labor and Liberal parties lie in the protraction of these activities beyond any reasonable timespan.

One can picture that Liberal councillors might be happy to see the indefinite postponement of plans that could inhibit developers in maximizing their profits at the expense of the community at large, but what could motivate Labor councillors beyond the possibility that they might actually have to make hard decisions, if development plans are put before them prior to the next election?

It is notable how swiftly councillors were able to act when the question of their remuneration had to be decided, but it seems that the public interest doesn't generate the same feeling of urgency amongst our representatives.

Email, 25 Dec 2017

Bruce Hyland, Woy Woy