Introduction

The Fair Go For Gawler blog page enables disaffected people and groups within the Gawler and surrounds community to communicate with each other and other interested parties about the  Delfin Gawler East project and the Development Plan Amendment (DPA) which supports it. Visitors can voice their grievances about, or support for it. The blog is also tending to ‘morph’ into a vehicle through which  broader aspects of urban development in our region can be explored.

WOW! This blog site has now had its 1,350th visitor since it was created only a few months ago. THANK YOU TO ALL.

Cheers from the blogmaster - Jow Bloggs

The now infamous Yes Minister article

See this blogsite’s intro and click on the wicked ‘Yes Minister’ article – or just click on link below. You’ll have a belly laugh but its frightening too in that many parts of it could be right on the mark. Click here to read the yes-minister-document 2

Justin Madden’s new infrastructure tax for Vic

Victoria’s planning minister Justin Madden proposed earlier this year a new tax to help pay for the infrastructure needed in and around new housing developments. Originally it was the sellers of the land- mostly farmers or hobby farmers – having to pay…….fair enough I say, those making windfall gains should be contributing! But a rebellion within the state Labor Party has forced him into a backflip on the controversial growth areas tax.  After major opposition from community groups, farmers and local Labor MPs, Mr Madden reversed the $95,000-a-hectare tax on land in Melbourne’s new suburbs so that it will now be paid by property developers rather than landowners. The tax is aimed at meeting some of the $11 billion infrastructure costs from building new suburbs in Melbourne’s west and north to house more than 400,000 people in the rezoned farmland.

Given SA’s precarious financial position and Councils like Gawler being in excessive debt, perhaps it’s only a matter of time before it is introduced in SA. One thing’s for sure, it’ll make the cost of blocks of land go through the roof.  Soon young people are going to have to find $350,000 for a tiny piece of land 60km from the city and employment zones, be totally reliant on motor cars and have no nearby access to public transport.  Surely its time for Govt to step in, compulsorily acquire suitable housing lands, keep land prices modest, set up the infrastructure publically as we did in the past, and take the developer profit margins out of the equation. Google – GAIC tax Victoria – and see the many articles.

Gawler’s DPA- the cart before the horse and back to front

Just as The Bunyip’s witty cartoonist recently pictured Gawler as “Stupidville”, this article probes the due diligence of the DPA in terms of what we know we will need but have no proper plans or funding for, this also being the rationale behind why the Gawler Council is not supporting the government’s proposals. Click here to read  The cart before the horse

A 12 year history of bypass political football

Readers will be amazed at this collection of facts and extracts from The Bunyip and other articles as far back as 1998. The people of Evanston Park have been political footballs for this whole time.  See how political expediency is affecting us and how the title of the road has changed. Click here for an-extracts-history-of-an-eastern-bypass-from-1998-v10

Govt. planning forum date debacle

Its 2nd November and I receive a letter from MP Tony Piccolo inviting me  to the Community Cabinet – Planning & Devt Forum on 9th November  at the CWA Hall, Tod St., 5pm to 6pm. Yes I will go, even though the time slot is a shocker, given it would be  peak traffic time and many of us work well past 6pm nowadays. It was a good excuse to leave early for a change, and it would be good to see ministers Holloway and Conlon on our turf.  

But then a couple of days later another letter arrives from Mr Piccolo saying the venue has changed to the Uniting Church hall, and it would be on 9th December at the same time. Ok, no problem. I changed it in my diary.  Then I opened The Bunyip this week to see the meeting had been on the date originally advised…They had been, met, had some more media mike pics taken and gone! 

Upon querying Mr Piccolos office, I learnt they had mucked up the second notice, had realised it well prior but decided not to send yet another notice of change because they thought it would cause even more confusion. Good one.  Any chance of it been a deliberate ploy to minimise the number attending, given this community turns up in droves when planning is mentioned? Normally that type of thought wouldn’t even cross my mind, but very cross I am. Now lets see if theres a public apology from Mr Piccolo and attempt made (as futile as it would be) to get them out here again before Christmas.

DPA rezoning may be given thumbs up before Christmas so Govt has time to spin infrastructure spend promises as part of election campaign

Its that time of the electoral cycle the unfunded promises of govt spending for the future start to be spun. A frequent visitor to this blog site phoned me (wouldnt communicate on blog for fear of reprisals) to say he/she had been told by Delfin that their latest from the Govt was that everything is on track for the rezoning of Gawler East and Evanston Park , and that it would happen before Christmas so the Govt could make infrastructure spend announcements leading up to the elections in March. He/she was in the know because he/she is one of those wanting to sell a large piece of land to them and they had been keeping him/her in the loop.

Whats should we make of this? A couple of things come to mind immediately. 1. The Govt’s community cabinet planning and devt forum  held at Gawler this week was just another cynical effort to say they have undertaken broad consultion, whilst the rezoning will go ahead anyway. 2. The closeness of Govt and vested interests in rezoning is becoming more and more evident, further worsening the public’s distrust of the process. Greens MP Mark Parnell says we have a strong likelihood of the dangersous Qld culture of  mates supporting mates coming to the fore in SA. See more on this by visiting his website www.democracy4sale.org

Delfin backs away from bypass/link road funding

The draft commitment deed for the Gawler East development, whilst still a working document, tends to point to a possible about-face by Delfin Lend Lease in regard to who is going to fund the controversial connector/link road/bypass from Gawler East to Evanston Park. Much evidence exists to show a funadamental premise of the development was that DLL were to pay for this road. But the draft deed says otherwise, suggesting the Town of Gawler and State Govt would pay. This is further supported by a controversial spreadsheet document leaked in July to the residents of Evanston Park which shows the ‘responsibility’ for the road would be held by a combination of DLL, Town of Gawler, Barossa Council and DTEI (State Govt) but a footnote states it would “be paid for up front by Town of Gawler and DTEI with contribution sought later from all future development (developers?) which includes commercial and the racetrack”.  We can certainly derive from this that who has it on their balance sheet is a long way off being concluded, especially given the Town of Gawler is struggling under existing debt and the State Govt has a thousand other priorities. Perhaps Paul Koch in his Bunyip letter to editor 28th Oct is on the money when he says it looks like Delfin hadn’t’ done their homework well enough before bidding for the site.  In the mean-time, it seems unrealistic to believe a public company like Delfin would ever be drawn into sponsoring the costs (up front or otherwise) of any future extension of the link road over Potts and through to Tiver.  Why would they have it on their balance sheet? After all, it’s outside of their land precinct altogether. 

Could it be that it is all becoming uneconomic and too risky?  Could it be too that if Concordia is now becoming more likely to be given the green light ahead of Gawler East, a proper eastern bypass road located well away from existing and future residential land is making more and more sense? Lets hope so.

Gawler – The Monarto you have without having Monarto

By popular demand, the blogmaster has secured a copy of the July 22nd ABC 891 breakfast interview of Council’s planning director Michael Wohlstadt and shadow minister for transport David Ridgway. David Bevan and Matthew Abraham provided this forum for what has turned out to be by far the most incisive and complete commentary of the saga. They probe the  key issues pertaining to the Delfin DPA along with the 30 year plan for greater Adelaide in the north which will most certainly influence the outcome of the March 2010 election. Click here  to catch up on  ABC interview M Wohlstadt

Please note that visitors might have to wait or return later to hear this interview as it has become a favourite for the site and sometimes gets a bit overloaded.

Dont forget to leave your comments!

Cheers

Jow Bloggs

Proposed urban development around Gawler could force council merger

The burden of having to provide services for new suburbs such as Roseworthy and Concordia could sink the Gawler Council, which is already experiencing major financial duress.  The state govt. says it wants to foster development around existing infrastructure, but because of the way the boundaries are presently set, with four councils all sharing in the Gawler pie, at this stage only the Gawler East (Delfin) proposed development – if it ever happens- will produce any extra rate revenue for Gawler. Are the new  residents of Concordia and Roseworthy likely to want to travel to Nuriootpa/Tanunda or Freeling/Kapunda?  Hardly.  Gawler’s already gridlocked roads and general community infrastructure will become more overloaded and run down. Barossa Council and Light Council must be rubbing their hands with glee when they see the 30 year plans, as they know they will gain building approval and rate revenue whilst being able to slowly build the normally required community infrastructures, this likely to be buffered by Gawler and its ratepayers for many years.  Given the recent press coverage of the need for fewer and more cost efficient councils, perhaps a  pro-active move would be for us to push Gawler Council to seek merger suitors, or at least a major review of boundaries. On top of the financial merits of this, a merger with Barossa or Light, or both, would ensure the town retains the ‘country’ part of our treasured town and country heritage whilst  lessening the risk of being absorbed by the mammoth Playford Council.

Delfin’s road to definitely become a bypass

Just as we thought. The new draft plans for greater Adelaide and urban boundaries show new suburbs centred in Concordia  and Roseworthy.  The Concordia section has a ”north eastern bypass” from the Sturt Highway to Lyndoch Rd. It just happens to join up with the  mostly Delfin-funded “link road”  which is  destined to pass by the back fences of Evanston Park residents before it exits on to the Main North Rd at Tiver. If a future resident of Concordia works in the city or anywhere south of Gawler, which way is he/she going to go? Anti-directionally north onto the Sturt Highway, the Gawler bypass and around to the MN Road? Or directly south through Gawler East and onto what is clearly to be the south eastern bypass to MN Road?  The map below (click on) shows a continuous blue dashed line all the way between the Sturt Highway and Tiver Rd.  So much for the expected link road road traffic having been halved from the 20-25,000 vehicle movements a day indicated a couple of years ago. If the proponents of the current Delfin DPA thought the Evanston Park people were upset before, this latest confirmation that we are being shafted is sure to bring another rally of dismay and discontent.

If DPA process is flawed, what is the alternative? See contribution to comments by Greens MP Mark Parnell.

Under electoral pressure, local MP Tony Piccplo has now said the DPA process is flawed. What does he mean? Perhaps he is now saying what we have known for some time. A feeling of inevitability and ‘just going through the motions’ pervaded the public’s perceptions from the very start. The DPA is a ministerial one, giving the minister the final say. A process of public consultation is futile when the the minister is the judge  and the judge selects his jury, but the jury doesnt decide … they only advise the judge, who then becomes the executioner.  All of this whilst behind the scenes we have development beneficiaries admitting they make contributions to the political party election coffers. A terribly one sided and potentially corrupt affair? Absolutely! Mark Parnell of the Greens has recently exposed the ugly commercial lobby regime presently a part of our electoral system. Its obvious only amputative  surgery to this can can restore public confidence in the probity and fidelity of government committees when it comes to decisions about development projects. A fairer system would be one where a fully independent panel makes these decisions, unfettered by political and commercial interests. Another would be for Govt and Councils to compulsorily acquire all rezoned land, be expected to fund the required public infrastructure and then sell the land off as required via a Govt trust, covering its infrastructure costs. See Greens MP Mark Parnell’s thoughts on this in comments (click on comments) or by visiting his site http://www.democracy4sale.org/

Delfin: Where will they locate their sewerage pond?

An odour is wafting through the windows of the high school and south Gawler homes.  One of the speakers at a recent consultation night indicated he had heard Delfin were looking at options as to where they would locate their sewerage ponds. Such ponds would need to be quite large and have a legally required  easement around them, taking up a whole lot of otherwise valuable building land. He also indicated there was rumor they are considering asking the Gawler/Barossa Jockey Club about using the centre of the racecourse. Whaaaaat you say? Yes, the idea aparently being the treated water would be pumped back up to the homes for use in gardens and toilets.  It would be good if this bog, sorry … blog… could help take this from rumour to fact or take it off the list of bad – jokes being played on Gawler. Also see comment by a visitor who believes the Gawler East/Kalbeeba Para woodland reserve is in their sights too. See more on this at the following local site http://blogawler.wordpress.com/

DPA inadequate and isolating – Barossa Council

Barossa Council suspended their legal action against the state Govt. in 2008 over the  urban boundary extension. But it has now joined with Gawler Council in opposition to the Gawler East DPA, citing past requested investigations into development impacts remain outstanding and unresolved. It also criticises the DPA’s process in that it has dealt with the two Councils of themselves and Gawler in isolation, when it should have been collaborative. Download the intro page of the Barossa submission by clicking here Barossa Council objects

BOMBSHELL! Councillor Penny Johnston says Govt’s DPA is contra to its own urban policy

Presenting at the public meeting on 30th July, Penny Johnston was convincing when she showed how the proposed rezoning is in direct contradiction to the government’s policy on small towns near to the city (Gawler is specifically named) and how such towns need to be protected from urban sprawl. In particular the policy states such towns do not have the infrastructure to cope. This adds a whole new dimension to the debate, and is a potential new minefield for proponents. Click here to read DPA submission notes Penny Johnston July 09