More hotel questions
WELL this Gorge Hotel business has to be the proposal that keeps taking.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
To get to the root cause of this mess we need to understand why professional advice, from council officers to councillors, said the proposal was compliant.
So clear was the failure to meet building requirements only two of the four grounds were fully considered by the RMPAT.
Did diligent, professional council planners not consider the Launceston Interim Building Scheme (2015) and how likely a test against those requirements would rule the proposal out?
Who knows what really happened?
We do know that it's a flawed process that delivers a recommendation that fails on appeal.
We need an independent investigation of council processes that delivered this hapless recommendation to councillors.
No doubt there will be some lessons learnt and the cost of the investigation more than likely offset in the near future.
Here in Launceston we have a diligent group of people representing us on council.
They deserve good advice.
And professional planners need to be properly heard without fear or favour (should an investigation suggest this an issue).
Mitchell Dabelstein, Launceston.
Special treatment?
SO Dean Cocker from the JAC Group is re-submitting the Gorge Hotel proposal and expects the Launceston City Council to change its own planning laws to expedite this development.
From what was in the local paper it seems this edifice didn't meet the LCC's own planning laws, yet all but one councillor voted for it to go ahead.
Only one councillor had the guts to go against what he was expected to do.
Should the council change its own planning laws, then can we all expect to be able to build or demolish whatever we want, because they can't do it for one and not do it for the whole group of we ratepayers?
Like the state government, our council seems to be riding roughshod over anyone who threatens the status quo and woe betide anyone who dares go against them.
Someone on the radio on Wednesday likened our state to one going in the direction of a police state and it's not hard to see why.
No consultation and if you protest throw them in jail, probably the one whose location the Liberals didn't tell the residents of Westbury about until they announced it to the media.
Glennis Sleurink, Launceston.
Self-Funded Retirees
MANY people are surprised that the Reserve Bank's cutting of the interest rate has not resulted in greater consumer spending.
However, it is the thousands of self-funded retirees, who having saved and invested, now find themselves victims because of reduced income on their investments.
John Watson, Launceston.