Bungendore Residents Group Community action for Bungendore Village

See the PDF for fullsize

Way down the bottom of the Section 94 plans on the Palerang Council Website is an S94 plan No 9 for the future Street Upgrading for Bungendore. Look first at the date it was adopted - 12 July 2007. Then wonder why a planning document with time frames, out to 10 years for some projects, suddenly comes up to catch us by surprise. The kerb and gutter in Molongolo Street is just such an example.

The plan was put together for council (the PDF says) by William Ellison.  Bill’s name doesn’t appear in the Planning Staff list on the Palerang website (why?), but as we know, he is Director of Infrastructure Planning. An important position and I’d suggest, autonymous.

It’s unfortunate that as the BRG we missed this and the implications within it!
It’s interesting to think about some of the time frames that the Plan uses. Trucking Yard Lane development for example, was apparently a ‘done deal’ for Council planning in July 2007 (though it does say the developer would be required to pay for any future work that would be done, not the council).  It’s marked on the plan as work to be undertaken while the approval process for  is still ongoing.

The works programs are rated 1 to 3 in order of importance. Molongolo street between Turallo and Gibraltar (that’s the Frog’s Hollow section)  is Priority 2 to be done ‘within 10 years’.

There’s a section in the plan that explains how the Section 94 is costed and, importantly about Causal and Physical ‘nexus’ - how Council works when the work will need to happen.

Read it (and get cross) but get ready.

Fred Harden

Palerang Council has called an Extraordinary Meeting to be held on Sunday, 12 October 2008 commencing at 9.00am at the Council Chambers, Bungendore.

There will be two items of business:

1. Formally call the Auditor to audit the 2007/08 annual statements
2. Review Council’s Investment Policy, with specific reference to whether Council wishes to carry the cost of maturing existing investments early and transferring the funds to Treasury Bonds and other “tier 1″ financial institutions.

The Extraordinary Meeting is open to the public and interested persons are welcome to attend.

Unattractive and innapropriate. Curbing on the corner of Molongolo Street and Turallo Terrace

Here’s one side of the new kerbing that extends almost two house blocks down Turallo Terrace. The other is just as large. I don’t have a photo of what it was like before, but it was a grassed bank with a wide dirt edge. It’s contrsuction came as a surprise and with no notification to the residents nearby other than a planning meeting some months back.

Why it was a surprise, was that the Residents and the BRG had an assurance from Peter Bascomb, the General Manager of Palerang Council that the Frogs Hollow region would have no kerbing done without more consultation as to an aesthetically pleasing and practical result. “Don’t worry if you see work being done” he said “it’s just new water mains”.

Well, Peter was apparently as surprised about this as the BRG were alarmed, not knowing that Development Engineer (West) Ian Rogers had sketched out what was happening on a Google map before he went away on holidays and someone else had ‘approval’ from the Heritage and Planning Group to proceed.

It’s clear that extending this kerbing is inappropriate for this heritage area and needs to be altered immediately. It must not become another ‘fait accompli’ just because the nearby residents have seemingly acquiesced to having ’something’ done.

I believe the issue is one for Peter Bascomb and Louise Menday (Director of Planning and Environmental Services) to address to their staff. They MUST take into account the change in direction of our new Council in making sure community consultation becomes part of every bit of work that is done in the name of the Residents of Palerang. They need to allow appropriate time so that it doesn’t slows Council works down.

Fred Harden, Secretary BRG.

Bungendore viewed from the Kings Hwy hill above Carlton Estate

Welcome to the Bungendore Residents Group website. Here you’ll find all the issues we’re concerned about as residents of this lovely village in the Shire of Palerang NSW. We’re also planning to have a fair helping of the things we love about the community we live in. We encourage anyone to comment but we’ll moderate the postings so that it’s a truly ‘locals only’ website.