BMCC

Council decides on possible vote over Springwood Revitalisation Process

At the Council Meeting of the 17 February 2009, Councillors unanimously voted for a motion which requires BMCC to write to the developers asking if they still intend to go ahead with their plans. If all the developers indicate that they still wish to proceed, Council will hold a poll of residents in Springwood and surrounding areas to gauge public sentiment on the issue. You can read more about this motion below. The Blue Mountains Gazette report on the meeting can be found here.

Council Votes on Springwood Revitalisation Process

At the BMCC meeting of 17 February 2009, Mayor Adam Searle put forward a Mayoral Minute with the recommendations listed below (as amended). The Minute was passed unanimously.

Recommendations:

  1. That given the global financial and economic difficulties being faced by many companies, Council writes to each shortlisted proponent who has lodged an expression of interest for the Springwood Town Centre project, seeking to know as a matter of priority if they intend to remain involved in the process, and if they still intend delivering the standard and type of development previously indicated.
  2. That the proponents' responses and any implications for the process arising from those responses be reported back to Council within 90 days.
  3. That, if all the proponents indicate an intention to continue in the process, a public consultation on the Springwood Town Centre Project will take place and the process will include a 'poll'/referendum of community opinion in Faulconbridge, Valley Heights, Winmalee, Yellow Rock, Springwood and Warrimoo and Sun Valley, on partnerships between Council and the private sector for the provision or improvement of public infrastructure in Springwood, including partnerships of the kind proposed by the proponents.
  4. That the process of public consultation on the Springwood Town Centre Project also include options for obtaining input on the issues referred to in 3, above, from residents outside those townships, possibly through the BMCC website.
  5. That a report to the Council on the suggested process and approach for implementing the strategies in 3. and 4. above, be provided after Councilor input.
  6. That no further action be taken on the Springwood Town Centre Project until the above matters have been actioned.

Save Our Springwood does have reservations about the new course charted by the Council for the Springwood revitalisation process, Council, however, believes it has moved forward by breaking the deadlock on this issue. SOS believes the deadlock could have been broken by a simple vote in council when Councillor's were once again asked to vote on Councillor Luchetti's Rescission Motion put before Council in November 2008, deferred and due to be heard again in the next few months.

Such a vote to remove the developers from the process would have reflected the overwhelming sentiment of the community. It would also have set the stage for the thorough consultation within the community that should take place even before a referendum is considered.

Such consultation would have enabled the community to determine its needs and researched all the possibilities. If there is to be a referendum or poll, it should have emerged from such a process. Then any decision would be a richly informed one. Once again the cart is set before the horse.

If it is necessary, should it be a poll or referendum? How will the question be worded? No doubt other problems will arise. The community may be presented with the prospect of a stark yes/no vote on what is a critical and historical issue uninformed about the range of alternatives. SOS believes this new path to be flawed, remains wary and will be vigilant. However we do acknowledge this is the course that has been set. We will work within it and try and ensure it delivers the result that Springwood wants. SOS continue to work closely with Councillor Luchetti to ensure that the community will ultimately get the revitalisation they want, which will be sensitive to their needs and sympathetic to the environment and the history of Springwood

Close defeat for rescission motion

At the Council Meeting of the 11th November 2008, Councillor Brendan Luchetti moved a motion to have Council rescind its Resolution of 11 March 2008 which had invited Coles, Woolworths and the Jamieson Property Group to submit detailed proposals for developments in Springwood. Brendan further moved that the Council notify these groups that the Expression of Interest process had been abandoned and would not proceed. Brendan's motion was tied, and was defeated on the casting vote of the Mayor. You can read more about this motion here.