Is anybody out there?

Barnaby Drake

At the beginning of the council meeting in Meander Valley, (What hope have we?) the Mayor asked all the councillors if they had and conflict of interest and if they had, they were to declare them.

There was a deafening silence!

A few voices from the audience highlighted a couple of well-known instances, but those remarks went unheeded.

If the Councillors that had an interest in forestry or plantations had declared their interests and were excluded from voting, the entire proceeding would have been reversed and the PAL Amendment would have run into serious trouble and would not have been forwarded to the RPDC.

All the unanimous public motions could have been passed, instead of being trashed, and the decisions would have been held over until the newly elected members could see and have some input to the Amendment.

This is a total miscarriage of justice.

I myself contacted the RPDC in advance and was told by Carol Hughes that they could have requested a further delay, and even had they not, if they merely failed to submit, there was nothing the RPDC could do about it and the whole proceedings would have to wait until they got ALL the replies from all the councils.

They would not listen. They insisted on rushing it through and passing it to the RPDC without delay.

I believe that there are sufficient grounds for a legal challenge, but as I am not a lawyer, I could not say this with any certainty.

Is there anybody out there?

Earlier: Meander Valley: A mystery?