Ignore the Community - Pursue your own Agenda
Frankston Council's Idea of Community Consultation
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Frankston City Council whether in whole or in part seems to have a policy of: "Ignore the Community - Pursue your own Agenda." The words that come from Council's mouth or from Councilors, or the Administration don't matter. It doesn't matter what they say, it's what they do that counts.
You don't have to live in Frankston for very long before you find that whether by word or deed Frankston Council and the Council administration have an active policy of ignoring the wishes of the community, and are intent on pursuing their own agenda.
Just look around, complaint's all around. The
Frankston Beach Association says:
A little over 12 months ago, Council released its policy on
Community Engagement. This policy document contains statements like:
"Council seeks to demonstrate transparent, open and accountable leadership
and will engage the community's talent, knowledge and resources....."
"implementation of local area planning.....
enabling input from people who have a stake and an interest in issues
affecting their quality of life....."
"Consultation
and engagement are essential foundations of a strong community.....".
Despite this policy being in place, we continue to find far
too many major decisions being made by Council, where nothing but a veil of
secrecy is being applied in the Chamber. We have already highlighted our
concerns about the lack of transparency from Council with the South East
Water development ..
Not so long ago, a group of residents in Karingal felt they weren't being listened to and so the
Karingal Residents Association was formed, and became an incorporated body earlier this year.
Perhaps it is just those two organisations that aren't happy with Franskton Council. But no, there seems to be a growing list. Here's another three, and not all groups that have complaints or "reservations" about Frankston Council's consultation with the community have website's or blogs.
So what seems to be the problem?
Here's a current example.
Last year (2012) council decided to consult with Karingal Residents and had 40 residents turn up to a workshop. They created a
local area plan. As far as anybody can tell, this is the same as the outcome of the formation of the Karingal Local Area Planning (KLAP) Committee this year 2013 -
KLAP Local Area Plan 2013. But if you dig back further in history, there were meetings even before that. No 1 thing on the agenda was always turning the Gretana Crescent Tennis Courts into a useful community green and recreational space. It's been an issue for years.
Lack of real intent and honesty
What really shows the lack of real intent and honesty of Council and the Council administration is that months before the meetings in 2013, before it was even discussed with residents Council had already obtained a permit to pull down the Tennis Court Club rooms. Then they had a meeting to discuss the issue, even though for all practical purposes they had already decided what they wanted to do.
So it seems that Frankston Council thinks it is OK to waste the time of 40 or so residents, 3 or four council staff, for two or three hours, so they can still do what they please. On the issue of Gretana Crescent they have done this a number of times. The truth is that they have known for a number of years the views of residents, but that wasn't what was wanted by the Council and it seems particularly by certain sections of Council Administration. You could almost conclude that since they already had a permit, and once Council felt it had enough support and could get away with it, they went ahead and pulled down the Club rooms as they had intended when they got the the necessary permits in Jan 2013. The only conclusion you can come to from this is that Council actively set out to deceive the residents of Karingal.
We're their play thing
Don't be so harsh you say, you're kidding. After they had pulled down they Club rooms they called another meeting to plan what the site should be used for. Then shortly after Karingal residents were told Council had decided to sell the site anyway.
Council and the Council administration aren't some poor country bumpkins who have no idea what they are doing. They know, and still do it. They disrespect and disregard Karingal residents, and it seems from other sites almost all residents of Frankston.
We're their play things.
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