Councils in their sights: angry ratepayers demand more say

NICK EBBECK spread his arms wide and apologised from the bottom of his mayoral heart. Ku-ring-gai Municipal Council had failed to notify residents in Roseville Chase that a man wanted to open a gun shop across the road from a child-care centre.

A decade ago few would have blinked about such a shop, but international terrorism and mass shootings have heightened people's fear of firearms.

Last Tuesday night 200 seething residents vented their collective spleens. Mr Ebbeck tried his best, admitted fault and promised better. Then he told the crowd that 1000 signatures opposing the shop for "the emotional reasons that you don't like it" would have made no difference because of state laws.

In an era of one-size-fits-all planning rules that do not distinguish between cake shops and gun shops, it would have been a waste of time to consult residents.

The smidgen of goodwill in the room disappeared: how dare he denigrate their opposition as merely emotional? Government on a state and local level had dismissed constituents as irrelevant.

International events may have permeated local politics, but across Sydney this week residents are fighting an array of issues that irritate their neighbourhoods. They don't want poolside cafes, dumped shopping trolleys, noisy pubs and restaurants, overlit hospitals or pooing dogs in local parks.

But are they being heard by governments that seek more streamlined decision-making?

Tony Reisce, the president of Save Our Suburbs, insists the community is losing its voice.

"There had been a general move away from community having a say in favour of centralised authorities. The Roseville gun shop issue shows that the community is being left out of the equation … How can a mayor say their opinions are irrelevant?"

The Minister for Planning and former lord mayor of the City of Sydney, Frank Sartor, insists that communities are being misled by local politicians who are inflating expectations.

"The degree of public consultation has grown to a point where it is almost dishonest," he said. "The expectations have been built up to a point where they [residents] think they make the decisions. They don't. Public consultation is vital, but you can't pretend."

Mr Sartor is at loggerheads with councils over planning law changes that continue to remove decisions from local authorities. He now wants panels of experts to replace councillors where they are not meeting benchmarks for development application approval rates.

The Mayor of North Sydney, Genia McCaffery, disagrees. "Communities live with planning decisions after the planners and the developers have moved on. The [Environmental Planning and Assessment] Act placed the community right at the centre of the planning system and now it's moving away again.

"If you consult people properly, design the process to allow people to have their say then the vast majority will be satisfied, even if they don't get their way. They get angry when they are given no opportunity to have a say and their views are not considered."

The Lord Mayor of the City of Sydney, Clover Moore, runs "village" forums for residents to talk to council staff - from engineers to community service officers and parks and garden staff - and be briefed on council projects.

Waverley Municipal Council has expert panels for some contentious projects. Residents can make submissions and the panel makes recommendations, but the council makes the final decision.

The Mayor, George Newhouse, says it would be a mistake to take the process any further: "Frank Sartor says the panel takes the politics out of decision-making, but it is the politicians who have to wear the results. That's why we should have the ultimate say."

Parramatta City Council has 2000 volunteer residents who are regularly polled or participate in forums, sometimes en masse or in demographic or geographic groups. The Mayor, David Borger, says the surveys have been invaluable. And people get heard: "We need to start engaging with residents, not disengaging."

Roseville Chase residents would no doubt agree.

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