Correspondence to George Town's General Manager
Friday, 26 August 2011
Dear Mr Brown
Can you please tell me why the plans of the proposed government Hub (floor plan, site plan on Regent Square and site location plan) have been removed from the GT Council website in recent months?
As part of this community has been letter-boxed in the last few days with information regarding the state government’s continued intention to build on our historic 1811 Macquarie planned Regent Square, I feel these plans should be put back on the Council website and also put back in the foyer of the Memorial Hall where more people can see them.
These plans give a more accurate picture of just how much this building with its associated exclusive outdoor area, access road and parking, will encroach on the existing vegetation and recreational open space of Regent Square than the flyer that has been circulated.
In the interests of Community Consultation, I ask that this be done as soon as possible.
Sincerely ....Lorraine Wootton.
Lorraine,
Council has received application for Development Approval for the proposed Hub and the revised plans submitted with this application are on display in the Council foyer as of Monday morning. The application is to be advertised in the Examiner this Saturday and I have requested electronic copy of the revised plans to display on the Council website with hardcopy at the Hall. A further copy of the plans will be held at the Council Offices for public inspection as part of the process. I trust this is of assistance in your enquiry.
Kind regards Stephen Brown
If you hadn’t advised and I hadn’t expected it, I could well have missed the advertisement – as many will, no doubt!
A $6m project - and it’s lumped in with another DA with no GEORGE TOWN COUNCIL heading and no spaces or bolded letters – as with those immediately above and below for the Northern Midlands and West Tamar Councils - apart from your name at the end.
I was expecting something similar to the Amendment notice on 26 June 2010........Lorraine."
We considered a complaint to the GM and Crs but thought we’d try a letter to the Editor first. We really thought they would print it in the daily but have passed it to the ‘Tamar Times’ – too late for the Representation deadline! - they must consider its not worthy of full readership – not sensational enough for George Town! OR is something else at work here?
NEW PLANS FOR THE GEORGE TOWN Hub were gradually put on the GTC website over the weekend, so someone worked overtime. The plans were available for inspection in the Council Chambers foyer and were LATER put up in the Memorial Hall for people to see.
CONTEXT NOTE: The most noticeable difference from the older plans is that 3 large ‘Training’ rooms, 2 ‘Consulting’ rooms and 1 ‘Parent’ room have ALL become MEETING rooms!
Obviously to meet the ‘Civic’ use – rather than ‘Health’ or ‘Education’ that the TPC ‘advised’ that it was. George Town does NOT need any more Meeting Rooms - they are available everywhere!
HOWEVER - some people reported that the plans they had seen on display in the Memorial Hall still had the rooms labelled as "Training" and "Consulting" Rooms, we visited the hall late on Thursday afternoon to find THE PLANS ON DISPLAY WERE THE OLD ONES – with the rooms labelled ‘training’ and ‘consulting’. So the Library staff were informed and the significance of that change was explained!
In February 2011 the Tasmanian Planning Commission handed down their decision on the Council's bid to make an AMENDMENT to the GT Planning Scheme to allow a "CIVIC" Building on part of Regent Square.
As Representors we received copies. When we contacted the TPC for an explanation of some parts of their report it was explained that their task was to decide whether the Amendment should be made ‘..but there was an elephant in the room and everyone knew what the elephant was,...we considered that 2/3 of the proposed HUB building was ‘health’ and ‘education’.
Their preliminary letter (attached see below) advised that, but the GM wrote back and told them ‘their job was to assess the Amendment and not worry about the proposed building’ – not in those words - or as few - of course, but basically that what he said.
CLICK ON THE IMAGES TO ENLARGE
No comments:
Post a Comment