Petition for heritage – City of Greater Bendigo council meeting briefs

Petition for heritage

Councillors received a petition calling on new legislation for greater protection of neglected heritage buildings Monday’s regular council meeting.

The petition was prepared by the Bendigo branch of the National Trust of Australia, calling for a halt to “demolition by neglect”.

The National Trust said there are many vacant buildings in the region that are left “unattended and neglected and are open to vandalism to the extent that the only alternative is demolition.”

The petition calls on the City to introduce new State Government legislation into the planning scheme to deter people unlawfully demolishing heritage buildings or allowing them to fall into despair.

Councillors voted unanimously to prepare a response to the petition within two meetings.

Cr Dave Fagg supported the petition but said the implementation of the legislation would be complex.

“State Government needs to come to the party on this. They’ve prepared the legislation in response to a real problem, so far so good, yet there is no real guidance for local governments on how to implement it,” he said.

 

Street art or graffiti?

THE City of Greater Bendigo’s first Graffiti Management Policy was endorsed after considerable debate.

The policy comes as the municipality responded to about 150 incidents of graffiti in the 2019/20 financial year at a cost $52,000.

It seeks to clarify the differences between graffiti and public art, outline definitions of graffiti, work at preventing it and removing it from City owned and managed property.

The policy also includes the addition of stickers as a type of graffiti.

Cr Fagg spoke against the document, and said he has problems with the current policy as it does not appropriately distinguish between authorised and unauthorised street art.

“Bendigo has so much so-called unauthorised street art that has now crossed over into commercially and artistically legitimate and successful art,” he said.

“Would that have happened with this policy in place? I doubt it, because with this in place their work would have been removed.”

Cr Fagg said voting on the policy should at least be deferred as the Permanent Public Art Policy and Procedure is still under review.

He also said he was concerned about a potential lack of proper community consultation, which included street artist Reece Hendy who has been previously commissioned by the City.

Crs Matthew Evans and Vaughan Williams voted with Cr Fagg against the motion, which was carried.

 

Feedback on asset plan

Councillors voted to endorse a draft asset plan and release it for community consultation via the Let’s Talk Greater Bendigo platform.

The new plan is a requirement of the Local Government Act 2020 and guides the management of eight areas, including sealed roads, buildings and structure, drainage, pathways, recreation and open space, bridges and major culverts, unsealed roads and aquatic facilities.

Out of all the City’s assets, managing sealed roads will cost the most for ratepayers, taking up 34.73 per cent of asset base value.

Aquatic facilities take up only 0.86 per cent and according to the plan, the City may have to close one of its 13 resources.

The plan states “these old facilities often to struggle to meet today’s standard for equitable access, safety and health, or are inefficient with high operational costs.”

Crs Fagg, Jennifer Alden and Marg O’Rourke said the size of the municipality makes it harder to manage assets.

Mayor Andrea Metcalf said council decided to put the plan out for community consultation even though it wasn’t required by the Local Government Act, to be more transparent to residents.

 

Cultural plan passes

The City’s Cultural Diversity and Inclusion Plan was adopted following a period of public exhibition and feedback.

The plan outlines the works needed to advance support multicultural communities.

Nine submissions were received, which were overall positive and constructive.

Changes to the plan include adding a list of acronyms and abbreviations and a statement that the City does not have formalised quotas for employment of culturally and linguistically diverse people.

The plan now also includes greater recognition of Loddon Campaspe Multicultural Service’s and the Bendigo Interfaith Council’s role in the plan.

Changes were also made to remove phrases such as “our multicultural communities” based on a recommendation from a representative from the Neighbourhood Collective Australia, who said the term is patronising language.

The new plan was adopted unanimously.

 

Pay rise for councillors

AN independent tribunal has set new councillor allowances, with the mayor, deputy mayor and councillors set to receive a pay rise.

The mayor’s allowance has been raised from just over $100,000 to just over $119,000 and councillors’ get a bump from just over $31,000 to just under $36,000.

A new allowance has been set for deputy mayors, at $59,658.

Councillors agreed the new figures set by the Victorian Independent Remuneration Tribunal reflect the amount of work undertaken and an increased load.

Deputy mayor Cr Evans said an allowance is not the reason why councillors stand for office, and an increased allowance make himself and other councillors “more determined to deliver strong outcomes for the community.”

 

No house on farmland

Councillors knocked back a proposal for a three lot re-subdivision at 79 and 99 Forest Drive, Leichardt.

According to an officer report, the proposal was inconsistent with the purpose and decision guidelines of the farming zone it’s situated in and doesn’t meet planning policy for the subdivision of land in rural areas.

The application seeks to re-subdivide three existing lots into a more equal size, allowing for access to an isolated lot from Forest Drive.

According to the report, the re-subdivision would allow for development of at least one new dwelling.

Cr Rod Fyffe said the land in question was marginal and therefore it should not be subdivided into three smaller lots, in order to make the most of its agricultural potential.

Cr Greg Penna voted against the motion, saying council has received many similar dwelling applications and planning should be more flexible to allow for residential properties in areas of low agricultural potential.

Cr Williams voted with Cr Penna, however the motion carried.

 

Money for park

Local landscape company CPE Landscaping has been awarded the contract for the Wolstencroft Play Space project.

Just under $536,000 has been set aside for the capital contract.

Cr Julie Sloan said the play space will include nature-based play activities, including climbing equipment and swings, as well as a shelter and more trees.