New SOS committee for 2010
The election of three new members and the departure of several others for professional and personal reasons has seen an injection of new blood into the SOS committee following our AGM late last year.
President Ian Wood, veteran local government activist and planning advocate, is joined by Vice-President Louis Delacretaz, an entrepreneur with extensive experience in local government as a former councillor and mayor in Melbourne's outer east.
Also new to the committee are government bureaucracy expert Libby Blackett-Smith and lawyer Ann Birrell. Julie Buxton, from the Living in the Bush Coalition, has been appointed treasurer.
Draft Bill on changes to Planning Act – taking democratic control away from Councils and Residents
What’s missing is any future vision for the sustainable development of Melbourne. And in the words of the Municipal Association of Victoria, “the draft fails to acknowledge and strengthen local government’s roles in planning, creates risk and uncertainty for local government...”
SOS submission concludes that:-
The philosophical approach to this Draft has clearly been to “streamline” (deregulate) planning processes under the Act.
SOS 2009 AGM - 3pm, 29th November 2009, The Elsternwick Club, 19 Sandham St, Elsternwick
SOS Notice of 2009 Annual General Meeting
SOS Newsletter for October 2009!
The next SOS newsletter has just been mailed out to members and can be downloaded here as a 4-page pdf: Issue 25 - October 2009 This edition covers: * Hi-rise residential buildings along transport corridors * Liquor win for community - the Corner Hotel case * SOS and Yarra election upset * Beware deals with developers - and don't assume Council will argue your case for you at VCAT
SOS submissions for 2009 - for the Review of VCAT, the Planning Act Review and the proposed New Residential Zones
These three submissions are on the SOS Policies and Submissions page. The detailed SOS submission to the current review of VCAT deals with the reform of existing operations at the Planning List of VCAT, as well as recommendations for more major changes to the way the Tribunal functions to improve planning outcomes in Victoria. Our final April 09 submission to the consultation over the New Residential Zones suggested an alternative approach and took issue with the whole concept of new zones that would remove most fine-tuned planning control provided by local policies, and which would also still remove residents' appeal rights in some cases.