I apologise for the time that it has taken me to advise you of the outcome of the meeting with Landcom on Tuesday 28 July.
Landcom requested a meeting the day after the storey on 7NEWS to confirm the process of community consultation.
Landcom agreed that the consultation process up until now could have been handled differently and there where certainly shortfalls in the way many things where disseminated.
Landcom enlisted the services of a consultant to mediate the process and the meeting was advised by Michael Burt (Landcom) that he intentionally did not invite Mirvac or Liverpool Council. Mr. Burt went on to say that he felt it important that just Landcom and the residents have the opportunity to discuss and confirm the future Community Consultative process and ensure that everybody has a clear understanding of that process. Mr. Burt felt that Mirvac and Liverpool Council did not need to be here for that process. I invited Liverpool Councilors Hadid, Harle and Lucas as our representatives and it was pleasing to see that they attended the meeting.
I t was confirmed that in the future any community newsletter about Cecil Gardens will be mailed out to all residents of Cecil Hills and not a select number as was the case of the initial mail out in April 2009.
Landcom provided information relating to where the process is at and a “South Cecil Hills Rezoning Process” document was provided(i have attempted to attach the document but unable to do so). Landcom reconfirmed that the process was still at an early stage and they were still waiting on certain studies to be completed.
Debra Botfield noted that the Public Exhibition was scheduled for 28 days over the November – December period and brought this to the attention of Landcom. She advised this would not be a period that would suit the general public as it covers the school holiday and Christmas period. It would not be a period where parents would have the time to comment on the exhibition. Landcom took note of this suggestion however Councilor Lucas stated that there would be extra time allowed for the exhibition to be on display.
Helena Sivric from the Liverpool Leader attended on the night. Anne Tarasov of the Liverpool Champion came to us at Lascelles St on Friday to follow up on the meeting and to take more photos. Keep an eye on the local papers this week for the stories.
Generally we where given an assurance that any further consultation would be honest and transparent. This was supposedly demonstrated when on two occasions Michael Burt of Landcom was asked if there where any applications for development submitted to Liverpool Council and he responded on those two occasions that there where no applications before Liverpool Council.
However, on Wednesday evening my wife took a phone call from Michael Burt advising that after briefing Mirvac of the previous nights meeting Mirvac advised that they had if fact submitted an application for development to Liverpool Council.
Obviously this came as a massive shock especially after the assurance at the previous nights meeting.
Please feel free to post your comments on this issue as they will be taken to Landcom and Mirvac at the next meeting. You will probably find that Landcom, Mirvac and all other key players would have already read this information.
I reserve my thoughts on this matter at the moment but I can tell you I have said to Landcom that I find this to be very disappointing and I am now at a point whre I am totally confused to say the least.
Michael thank you for keeping us up todate, In these early days the promise of transparency is a good start. Please continue the great work and let Bill or I know if there is anything we can do to assist. Also if you let me know when the next meeting is so Bill and/or I can plan to be there. Congrats on the media also, great coverage!
