This is a response to my email from Peter Shearman, which I think puts everything into perspective. I thought it worth sharing with everyone.

Cheers,

Ian

 

 A disappointing outcome but not unexpected after the previous two approvals.

 

It appears that there is nothing that council or residents can do to stop these overdevelopment's even when ResCode rules are flaunted..

Even our most obvious & sensible objections appear to have been given little or no weight in VCAT.

Essentially it appears to be nothing more than a rubber stamp approval process for developers.

 

But our efforts haven't been wasted.

1 We have delayed these projects by up to 12 months & in the current economic climate the developers may decide not to proceed especially if they are borrowing money.

2 We have cost the developers' a significant amount of money in fighting our objections & paying highly for expert witnesses.

3 We have made estate agents & developers wary of trying to get these developments through council in Knox.

4 We have made the council very aware that there is a huge groundswell against this type of development which they ignore at their peril

5 We have kept a real estate agent from becoming our local councillor

6 We have brought together a large number of residents who have stood up & been outspoken up about these developments

7 We have developed friendships with many of our neighbours.

 

Whilst we may not have stopped these developments we can still keep the pressure on by watching & recording the way in which these developments are built.

We need to take photos of all stages of the works especially noting any environmental damage, traffic problems, OH&S breeches, and unsafe work practices.

All of this can be used to fight future development proposals.

 

We need to take a few photo's up Kathryn Rd with no parked cars and then use this for comparison after these developments force cars to be parked on the street at all times of the day.