Friday 14 March 2008

More corruption discovered in last hours

Peter and Gayle Todd live at 28 Clifton Beach Road.
The well-known identities run Aqua Cat charters. Peter is a regular on ABC radio's 'Fish Talk' every Friday.
Two months ago the Todd's put in an application to Cairns City Council for a formal inspection of the buildings being constructed at the controversial Clifton Views, that adjoins the rear of their property.
GlenCorp is constructing the complex, along with the neighbouring Clifton Waters high rise apartment block.
Something appeared wrong to the Todd's. It was just over 2.5 meters from their boundary fence.
Peter Todd has been asking the Cairns City Council when they were going to undertake the inspection. It now appears that they purposely stalled the inspection for more than two months. Peter Todd was informed this week that the inspection application letter "was lost."

He demanded they come urgently, and yesterday afternoon, Council inspectors were on his doorstep .

What they discovered was their worst fears.
The building has not been approved, nor did it appear on any plans approved by Council.

It also doesn't appear on the illustration plans for buyers from Glen Corp (see right).

The Todd's property is marked by the red circle. There was a lawn bowls area air-marked on the original plans.

"We will now proceed with legal action to have this building removed," Peter Todd told CairnsBlog. "How they get away with this is amazing."

This behaviour seems a regular occurrence under the current Cairns City Council. The Villa Romana extension onto public footpath, is now seeking retrospective approval, for a second time.
Instead of demanding the illegal extension on the Esplanade corner be removed, the Council simply refer it to the Department of Natural Resources. It's called passing the buck.
The Council rejected the Villa extension, after the Mayor supported it last year. Yet the Council are not caring out the wishes of the people, their elected representatives and the law. Where are the Councillors in demanding this be dealt with?
Today, Cairns City Council ordered an immediate 'stop work' on the Clifton Views development. They have asked GlenCorp to explain with a 'show cause' notice.
"They will use the same old defence," says Fiona Tulip of the Combined Beaches Community Association.
"They will tell this community that this was approved by a private certifier. They use this as their escape."
It is now time for the greater Cairns Community to seek a formal inquiry into the corrupt operation and practices of the Cairns City Council. For too long now, residents feel disenfranchised and betrayed by their elected leaders and the processes that favour developers that bankroll the election campaign of the current Mayor.
From False Cape to Clifton Beach, from Woree to Buchans Point, from flood protection to City Place, from the historic Yacht Club to closed door meetings, we are excluded and ignored and not consulted with.
The ratepayers are angry and fed up with a Council that simply railroad their own plans without consent or blessing from the people.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

"They will tell this community that this was approved by a private certifier. They use this as their escape."

Well was it a private certifier?

If it is a private certifier, then THEY have the responsibility to ensure the development complies with the Planning Scheme and the approved building plans.

Anonymous said...

Private certifier or not....our council has the final responsibility to ensure these projects comply in the best interests of us ratepayers dont they??
Isnt that why we have a council?
Perhaps we should just get a private council too.
It sounds like a joke but i'm sure the residents affected dont think so.
Why dont the council have officers supervising these sites? 'Project supervisors' as the rest of the Government business such as Ergon, Telstra Qld Rail etc use.
I know for a fact that one of the above does as thats my role within that company. Our contractors or any private company for that matter that does work on our infrastructure or constructs new infrastructure in this state must be passed by us to ensure all compliance is met. We deal with safety concerns, public complaints and questions, standards of work etc etc etc. If i missed a 'mistake' as large as this i'd be looking for a new job. Perhaps the problem is that we have private certifiers supervising private constructors with no sense of final ownership.

Anonymous said...

Another serious concern re this devleopment is the distance from the creek.

Of course the Council gave a 10m dispensation for the building alignment to the high bank mark. At the western end nearest the highway, that 10m looks more like 5m.

This rot must stop and stop now.