23 July 2014

Mitcham's Council meeting

I attended the first 2 hours of Mitcham's Council meeting yesterday. This was just to hear the deputations.  I went to hear the deputations from SOCKET(Brown Hill Creek owners) and Ron Belchambers  to the meeting. Even though allowed only 3 minutes to speak I think each got about a half and hour. There was also a deputation from another creek owner. SOCKET were taking the same argument to Mitcham as they did to Unley the week before; that is that a dam should be  the first option, creek cleansing (feral vegetation, degraded creek banks, etc) and that creek widening and deepening was not acceptable to the creek owners and acquisition of their property by legal means would be very expensive. Ron repeated his argument that a dam would cause devastation to the upper reaches of the creek that were unacceptable to him and the 10,000 people who have signed his petition.
The problem is that most people who signed the petition will not be affected one way or the other if the creek floods.

What I found difficult was the Mitcham Councillors questioning of these people, using the question time as debating time and asking questions of the individuals that only experts would be able to understand.
It is is my understanding that the technical report will now not be debated until August and the consultation will not occur before Sept/Oct and will be for at least 6 weeks when it does.
It  is clear to me that Unley residents would like consultation to expolore a dam option.

3 comments:

  1. Jennie, I want you and Don to commit to only supporting the dam option.

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  2. I can't speak for Don but I am certainly of the belief that a dam is the best option for Unley, further more I will be working to ensure that the consultation will include a dam as a viable. I won't be voting, if I am on Council, for a no dam option. It is no longer possible for the current Council to make the decision.

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  3. I too believe this way too Paul. What I and I believe we at Unley have been trying to do is make sure we have all the facts on the table so that we make an informed decision. I will be opposing any move to remove the dam option prior to the whole project going out.

    As I am saying to everyone I am meeting Mitcham councillors are the ones that need to be lobbied because if they maintain a no dams approach then the project will be either no dams or the state government will set in and ... well ... good luck on that one.

    To keep up with my thoughts (both past and future) check out my blog site if you haven't before now.

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