Newcastle Local Planning Strategy reaches pointy end

"If you're going nowhere, any path will get you there."

With this admonition, Newcastle Council's Local Strategic Planning team began a recent community workshop on the draft "Newcastle Local Planning Strategy" (NLPS), which will help set land use and development controls across the Newcastle local government area for the next decade or so.

Once adopted, the strategy will guide any future review of the Newcastle Local Environmental Plan (LEP) and the Newcastle Development Control Plan (DCP) - which means that it's a pretty big deal, since very few council documents have such a profound and far-reaching impact on cities and local communities as these.

The current draft Local Planning Strategy process started in September 2012, with the staged release of a series of background and working papers on topics such as housing, employment, heritage, recreation and hazards.

The working papers (which are still available) are full of useful information, and each step in the process has provided an opportunity for community participation.

For people in the community who want to be actively involved in helping to shape their local communities, the NLPS process has been a refreshing exception to the tick-a-box, tokenistic community consultation for which Newcastle Council has become notorious over the past couple of council terms, and that has been a key driver of so much conflict between the council and the community.

The NLPS appears to be driven by council officers who value, understand and care about community consultation.

Let’s hope it’s infectious.

The long process is now drawing to a close, with the final strategy scheduled for adoption by the elected council in mid-2015.

The current community consultation on the final draft strategy that is now on public exhibition is likely to be the last opportunity that members of the local community will get to have their say on this strategy.

Newcastle residents will be particularly interested in the “Neighborhood Visions” part of the document (in Appendix A), which sets out a Vision and Objectives for each suburb in the Newcastle council area, and provides relevant forecasts for future population and dwellings.

Much of the discussion at recent community workshops on the strategy was focused on these Neighborhood Visions, and whether they accurately and comprehensively reflected the issues and aspirations of the various suburbs and communities that make up the Newcastle council area.

Public submissions to the draft Local Planning Strategy close on Monday, 27 April. Submissions can be sent via email (mail@ncc.nsw.gov.au) or by post to The General Manager, City of Newcastle, PO Box 489, Newcastle NSW, Attention Steve Masia. 

The council has asked participants to please reference “Draft Local Planning Strategy” in the title of any submissions.

You’ll find the documents and other information about the NLPS on the council’swebsite, or at your local library.

With planning issues and decisions at the forefront of local public discussion, there’s never been a more important time to have your say about the kind of future you want for your community.

This time, we can’t say we weren’t asked for our view on where we want to go, and what path we should take to get there.

Ward 3 by-election sharpens knife-edge council power balance

The delicate power balance between progressive and conservative forces on Newcastle Council could change yet again after the Ward 3 by-election on Saturday 21 February.

This will be the last in the spate of local by-elections arising from last year’s sensational revelations of illegal political donations by the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).

This by-election is a domino effect from the resignation of former Lord Mayor Jeff McCloy, who played a central role in the matters uncovered by ICAC.

The by-election in November last year to replace Jeff McCloy was won by Labor’s Nuatali Nelmes, thereby creating a vacancy in her former Ward 3 councillor position.

Clr Nelmes’ election as Lord Mayor changed the balance of power on Newcastle Council, which had been dominated since the 2012 general council election by a tight voting bloc of seven conservative “McLoyals”, comprising Jeff McCloy, four Liberal councillors, and two conservative Independents.

Between Clr McCloy’s resignation and Clr Nelmes’ election, the (now former) Deputy Lord Mayor, Liberal councillor Brad Luke, chaired council meetings, using his casting vote to break frequent 6-all voting deadlocks in favour of the conservative bloc.

This was reversed when Clr Nelmes was elected Lord Mayor.

Whoever wins the Ward 3 by-election will join the two current Ward 3 councillors, the Liberal's Sharon Waterhouse and conservative Independent Andrea Rufo, who was elected in 2012 with the help of Liberal preferences and has voted with the McCloyal bloc since his election.

The Ward 3 result will either return the conservative 7-6 council voting majority, or consolidate the shift to a more progressive council evident in last year’s Lord Mayoral by-election.

Five candidates have nominated. On paper, Labor’s Declan Clausen is the favourite.

The by-election is to replace a former Labor councillor position, and if Mr Clausen isn’t elected Ward 3 will be without a Labor councillor for the first time since the current ward system was introduced in 1995.

Labor maintained a slender majority in Ward 3 in the 2012 general council election, in the face of a massive conservative swing, and despite a cross-promotional advertising deal between Jeff McCloy and the Liberals that hitched the Liberal ward tickets to the big-spending McCloy electoral bandwagon.

In keeping with the approach the Liberals have adopted since last year’s damaging ICAC revelations, they’re not fielding an official Liberal Party candidate in this local by-election.

Instead, they’re pinning their hopes on Independent Kath Elliott, who, as the standard-bearer conservative candidate, is the next most likely contender to win.

Less than two percent separated the Labor and Liberal primary votes at the 2012 council election, and Ms Elliott will be hoping for a strong conservative by-election vote.

She’ll also be hoping to tap into the traditional support that Ward 3 voters have shown for Independents - though that support has usually been directed to Independents who live in the Ward 3 area, and may not translate as strongly to Ms Elliott, who gives her address as Hamilton.

If this by-election is close, the distribution of preferences from The Greens Nevenka Bareham and the two minor Independent candidates (Allan Warren and Arjay Martin) – all of whom live in the Ward 3 area - could decide the outcome.

At the time of writing, candidates were yet to announce their preference recommendations.

As the recent Queensland state election has confirmed, Australian elections can be extremely volatile at the moment, and by-elections are usually even more unpredictable than general elections.

Voting in the by-election is compulsory for all Ward 3 residents.

Ward 3 includes the suburbs of Georgetown, Jesmond, Kotara, Lambton, New Lambton, New Lambton Heights, North Lambton, Waratah, Waratah West, and parts of Wallsend.

The Ward 3 by-election candidates (in their order on the ballot paper) are:

  Kath Elliott (Independent
  Allan Warren (Independent)
  Nevenka Bareham (The Greens)
  Arjay Martin (Independent)
  Declan Clausen (Labor)

For more information about the Ward 3 by-election, including postal voting, pre-poll voting, electoral roll information, and candidates statements, see the NSW Electoral Commission website, or call the Electoral Commission on 1300 135 736, or call in to the Returning Office at 88 Park Avenue, Kotara.


Other links:

* Statements lodged by the candidates.
* If you’re not sure if you live in Ward 3, you’ll find a map on the Newcastle Council website.
* Polling booths will be open on election day from 8am to 6pm. A list and map of polling places is available here.
* Pre-poll voting starts on 9 February at 88 Park Avenue, Kotara, and will operate between 8:30am and 5pm until Thursday 19 February (except for weekends), and on Friday 20 February from 8:30am to 6:00pm.
* Postal vote application forms can be downloaded here.

Nelmes landslide win signals shift in council power balance and city politics

The emphatic win by Labor’s Nuatali Nelmes in the recent Newcastle Lord Mayoral by election represents a major shift in Newcastle Council’s delicate power balance, and perhaps in the politics of the city.

Clr Nelmes won in a landslide, with 42.3% of the primary vote. Liberal councillor Brad Luke, who stood as an Independent, ran second with 23.6%, followed by The Greens Therese Doyle (14.2%) and Independent former councillor Aaron Buman (11.5%).

With Jeff McCloy gone and Clr Nelmes now in the Chair for council meetings, the “McCLoyal” voting bloc, comprising the two conservative Independents (Clrs Robertson and Rufo) and the four Liberals (Clrs Compton, Luke, Tierney and Waterhouse) are no longer the majority.

The monotonously dominant 7-6 votes that characterised the brief McCloy era, to be replaced by 6-6 deadlocks decided on the casting vote of the (now former) Deputy Lord Mayor Brad Luke following Jeff McCloy’s resignation, are now gone. 

While Labor and The Greens are unlikely to form the same rigid voting bloc as the McCloyals, 6-6 deadlocks will now be decided on the casting vote of the new Lord Mayor, Clr Nelmes.

A by-election to replace the vacancy created by Clr Nelmes in Ward 3, could change this again, though the likelihood is that Labor will increase its council numbers to five, becoming the single largest council group.

Given that the Lord Mayoral by-election was triggered by Jeff McCloy’s resignation after revelations about his involvement in illegal political donations, it’s unsurprising that restoring public confidence in government was a key platform of candidates who had been opposed to the McCloy style.

Running strongly on this theme, both Labor and The Greens increased their votes from the 2012 council election.

During the campaign, Labor and The Greens co-signed an Open Government Reform Agreement, which committed them to:

1.     Make all Councillor/staff workshops and briefings open to the public, subject to the confidentiality provisions of the Local Government Act.

2.     Amend the Council Code of Conduct and Code of Meeting Practice to remove unnecessary impediments to councillors performing their duties as elected representatives.

3.     The Lord Mayor, the General Manager and their staff will maintain an online, real-time open diary like those used by some NSW State MPs. This diary will record the times, participants and topics of discussions of any meetings in which they are involved with people not employed by council, including but not limited to development or project proponents, lobbyists, government agencies, other elected officials, and community groups.

4.     Establish a network of council-supported, community-based groups or committees who represent the interests of residents in the local communities.

5.     Create an Internal Council Ombudsman role to independently investigate and respond to complaints about council administration.

6.     Provide increased opportunities for community members and groups to address the elected council at ordinary council meetings, Public Voice sessions, and site inspections, and remove unnecessary vetting of access to these channels of input.

7.     Revitalise and expand Council’s committee system as a key structure for community and expert input into council decision-making.

8.     Implement a fortnightly council meeting cycle by interspersing ordinary Council meetings with meetings of strategic advisory committees.

9.    Ensure resident consultation before any decision to remove significant local assets, including significant trees.

10.  Improve communication methods with the community to ensure that all residents have an opportunity to be involved in their council e.g. improve Council’s website to make it faster, more accessible and easier to use and search.

Voters hoping for a definitive sign that the city really has moved beyond the McCloy period will be looking for how this commitment will be put into practice.

********

Regime change on Newcastle Council

The government of Newcastle effectively changed last week, with the election of Labor Councillor Stephanie Posniak as the city's new Deputy Lord Mayor.

Clr Posniak replaces the outgoing Liberal Deputy Lord Mayor, Clr Brad Luke, who was elected to the Deputy position by the “McLoyal” Liberal-Independent voting bloc soon after the election of the former Lord Mayor, Jeff McCloy, in September 2012.

Clr Luke has been Acting Lord Mayor since Jeff McCloy was forced to resign as Lord Mayor following exposure of his role in illegal developer donations to the Liberal Party by the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption.

Clr Posniak will now serve as Acting Lord Mayor until the Lord Mayoral by-election on 15 November.

This significantly shifts the delicate political balance on Newcastle Council.

One of the key functions of the Lord Mayor (or Acting Lord Mayor) is to chair council meetings. The chair of a council meeting gets an ordinary vote, as well as a casting vote if a tied vote needs to be decided. 

Tied votes have been common since Jeff McCloy’s resignation.

While Clr Luke was in the Chair, he used his casting votes in favour of the McLoyal bloc, of which he is a member.

If such a vote occurred now, Clr Posniak (who is not a McLoyal) would exercise this vote, until the new Lord Mayor takes office.

The administrative ineptitude in the way the Deputy Lord Mayoral election was conducted demonstrated the urgent need for change in Newcastle Council.

The election was on the agenda of the council meeting, along with a General Manager’s report outlining the various available options, one of which was decided by the meeting.

Things then descended into chaos.

It was clear that the General Manager (Ken Gouldthorp) was inadequately prepared, to the point where the eventually tied ballot for the Deputy position (between councillors Luke and Posniak) was drawn out of a blue garbage bin.

This was predictably lampooned in the local media, but there has been no apology from the General Manager for how the inept handling of the process had demeaned the appointment of the city’s second highest civic office and exposed the council to ridicule.

If things go according to the pattern set in the recent Newcastle state by-election, it’s highly likely that Labor’s Lord Mayoral candidate, Clr Nuatali Nelmes, will be the city’s new Lord Mayor.

If so, this will consolidate the recent regime change – though it is hard to see the council’s four Labor and two Greens councillors forming the same rigidly consistent voting bloc as the McLoyals.

If Clr Nelmes is elected, this will trigger a consequential by-election in Ward 3 (which she currently represents). On the figures, Labor would be likely to win such a by-election, which would further consolidate the power shift away from the city’s recent dalliance with the centre-right.

Another Ward 3 councillor, Andrea Rufo, who is having difficulties with his civic role due to health problems, may also take the opportunity to step down, leaving two Ward 3 positions to be elected.

Clr Rufo was nominally elected as a progressive Independent councillor, but identified with the conservative McCloyal bloc and was disowned by the Community One group with which he stood in the 2012 council election.

Whatever happens, a zephyr of political change is whispering through the corridors of political power in City Hall at a crucial moment for the city, when so much of what we value is under threat from self-serving vested interests and neo-liberal ideology.

Newcastle Lord Mayoral election will test McCloyals' performance

The local by-election avalanche triggered by ICAC’s Operation Spicer is set to transform Newcastle’s political landscape.

Much of the focus will be on the two by-elections for the state seats of Newcastle and Charlestown on 25 October, in which voters will elect replacements for the former Liberal MPs Tim Owen and Andrew Cornwell, who both resigned after admitting to ICAC that they accepted illegal developer donations.

On the numbers, Labor’s Tim Crakanthorp and Jodie Harrison have to start out firm favourites, but the recent instability of local politics and the usual by-election volatility mean that a result from out of the blue isn’t out of the question. 

In Newcastle, you’d have to rate conservative Independent Karen Howard and The Greens Michael Osborne as having an outside chance of upsetting the pundits.

The absence of Liberal candidates in both these state by-elections means that a change in the complexion of local political representation is inevitable, though the result won’t affect who is in government in NSW (that will be decided next March).

But on 15 November – just three weeks after the state by-elections – Newcastle voters will turn out for a by-election with very different possibilities and with much more significant implications for local governance.

The contest for filling the vacancy created by Jeff McCloy’s resignation as Newcastle’s Lord Mayor (another fallout from ICAC) is likely to significantly affect the reality of what happens in our city.

As this column has frequently reported, Newcastle Council decisions during Mr McCloy’s tenure were often determined by a seven to six vote, with the dominant “McCloyals” bloc comprising the former Lord Mayor, the four Liberal councillors and two conservative Independents.

Since Mr McCloy’s resignation, his place has been filled by Liberal Councillor Brad Luke, who was controversially elected Deputy Lord Mayor soon after the 2012 council election, in one of the earliest indications of what was to become the dominant voting pattern.

As Acting Lord Mayor, Clr Luke now chairs council meetings, and council decisions now often turn on his casting vote, the established mechanism for breaking an otherwise tied vote.

Clr Luke inevitably uses his casting vote to support the Liberal-Independent voting bloc.

The Lord Mayoral by-election could change all that.

So far, only two candidates have confirmed that they are definitely intending to contest the Lord Mayoral ballot: Labor’s Nuatali Nelmes and The Greens Therese Doyle, both current Newcastle councillors.

The Liberals didn’t run a candidate in the 2012 Lord Mayoral election, opting instead to support Jeff McCloy, but they are expected to field a candidate for the by-election, and Clr Luke has indicated that he’s interested.

Former Newcastle councillor and previous Lord Mayoral hopeful Aaron Buman has also indicated that he might run, and if things go to form it’s pretty much inevitable that by the time nominations close on 15 October the field will include a few Independents and minor party candidates.

Again, on the bare numbers, you’d have to say that Clr Nelmes is the starting favourite.

If elected, her casting vote would decide tied votes.

How Labor representatives vote in opposition isn’t always a reliable predictor of how they’ll vote in government, but you’d expect that to change at least a number of council positions adopted by the McCloyals, especially on controversial local planning issues such as the proposed high rise buildings, the Newcastle rail line, and cuts to council services.

Voters hoping for a change in council secrecy might be disappointed, because, while Clr Nelmes has proclaimed her general support for openness and transparency, she’s also openly backed secret councillor briefings and consistently opposed moves by the two Greens councillors to make these more open and transparent – a point that is certain to be made by The Greens’ Clr Doyle during the campaign.

If the Liberals do run, the Lord Mayoral by-election will also be the first opportunity that local voters will have to express how they feel about the general performance of the McCloyal council voting bloc, and about the illegal developer donations scandals that have triggered the by-elections.

Sad, frustrating and confounding it all may be - but it’s certainly not boring or insignificant.

Murky donation deals taint Newcastle Council's "McCloyal" bloc

If you live in the Hunter, you can be forgiven if you’re suffering ICAC fatigue, after the sensational revelations of the past few weeks, where political donation scandals have been bowling over local elected representatives like skittles.

For the ordinary punter, the unfolding soap-opera can be hard to follow. At the time of writing, the political body count has been at least two (perhaps three) Hunter state Liberal parliamentarians, and the (now former) Newcastle Lord Mayor, Jeff McCloy.

But have we seen the last of it? And how far will it spread? 

Newcastle Independent councillor Allan Robinson (Ward 4) has already been mentioned in ICAC in relation to an alleged funding arrangement with Jeff McCloy during the 2012 Newcastle Council elections for payment for his how-to-vote cards. That allegation is contested.

Since the 2012 council election, I’ve commented frequently in this column on the close relationship between Jeff McCloy and Newcastle’s Liberal councillors. 

After Mr McCloy’s election, the four Liberal councillors formed such a solid voting bloc with him and the two Independents, Allan Robinson and Andrea Rufo, that council watchers labelled them “the McLiberals” or “the McCloyals”.

Their close relationship was already evident in the 2012 election, when the Liberals did not contest the Lord Mayoral election, and Jeff McCloy did not stand group tickets in the wards.

Instead, Mr McCloy stood as an Independent for Lord Mayor with the Liberal Party’s open endorsement, making him effectively the Liberal Lord Mayoral candidate. In return, Mr McCloy endorsed the Liberal Party ward tickets for Wards 1, 2 and 3, together with Clr Robinson in Ward 4, who were effectively Jeff McCloy’s ward teams.

Josh Hodges, a local Liberal Party identity who has appeared before the ICAC in association with the processing of political donations from prohibited donors, helped to coordinate Mr McCloy’s council campaign (after the election, Mr McCloy tried to have him appointed on the council payroll as a Lord Mayoral assistant). 

So close was the relationship between the McCloy and Liberal camps that they prominently advertised each other on the how-to-vote cards they distributed to voters as they entered the polling booths, allowing them to double-up on their election day advertising exposure. 

This donation to each other doesn’t appear to have made it into the election funding disclosures of either camp.

On election night, the McCloy and Liberal campaign teams even held a joint party.

Clearly, these mutual arrangements were planned and deliberate.

ICAC has already given us non-developer developers, with the former Lord Mayor arguing to ICAC that he didn’t meet the legal definition of a property developer while arguing exactly the opposite to the High Court less than a month before. 

Is this now the case of non-donation donations?

In any case, it does provide intriguing context for the staunch defence of the former Lord Mayor by Newcastle’s Deputy (and now Acting) Lord Mayor, Liberal councillor Brad Luke, when pretty much everyone else (including the Liberal Premier, Mike Baird) was calling on Jeff McCloy to at least stand aside, if not to resign.

Councillor Luke was elected with the assistance of election day advertising paid for by Mr McCloy.

Subsequently, as I wrote in this column at the time, Councillor Luke’s election to Deputy Lord Mayor, which broke the established Newcastle Council tradition of sharing the Deputy role among interested councillors, was the first significant vote of the McLiberal/McCloyal bloc after the September 2012 council election, setting the pattern for what was to follow.

State government spin machine cranks to overdrive on Newcastle inner-city high rise

The state government’s spin machine cranked into overdrive when the NSW Minister for Planning Pru Goward recently announced reductions to controversial proposed height limits for residential towers in the Newcastle CBD.

The Minister’s media release spruiked the state government’s “extensive community consultation” on the planning controls, and stated that the government’s move to reduce the proposed maximum building height was because “we always said these plans should and would be informed by the community”.

This is the same government that had allocated only two weeks for community consultation on the proposed new height controls, and ignored repeated community requests to extend the consultation period.

The Minister’s media release makes much of the fact that they received 266 submissions during the consultation period, but doesn’t mention that these were mostly due to the efforts of the same community groups whose requests it had ignored, and that the vast majority were opposed to the proposed increased height limits.

What little support there was for those proposed changes came from the usual suspects representing vested interests who stood to pocket the proceeds from any relaxation in development controls.

But there was the occasional surprise.

The Institute of Architects, apparently responding to a request from Newcastle Lord Mayor Jeff McCloy to support the proposed changes, instead focussed its attention on the government’s inadequate community consultation.

That other hotbed of local radicalism, the Newcastle Club, declared its opposition to any increased height limits east of Darby St.

The Minister’s media release doesn’t mention these, but it does quote the Member for Newcastle, Tim Owen, as saying that “he was pleased the Department had heeded the community’s concerns about the maximum building height in the East End”.

The current height limit for the site is 24 metres, and the state government’s original proposal was to increase it to 69.5metres (approximately 20 storeys), representing a 289 percent increase.

Near the end of the Minister’s two page release is the specific information that the proposed new height limit for the site of the tallest proposed tower will now be 58.9 metres (approximately 17 storeys).

So, beneath the government spin, developers will still be gaining a 245 percent increase on the current limit, despite overwhelming community opposition. 

Changes will still include removing specific provisions in the current controls designed to protect views to and from the Christ Church Cathedral.

The Newcastle Inner City Residents Alliance (NICRA), formed by residents who were concerned at the earlier proposed increased height limits, has rejected the Minister’s meagre concession.

Ms Goward’s latest announcement came on the eve of a major public Q&A style forum on the issue that drew a standing-room only crowd to City Hall on a cold, rainy Friday night who were clearly unimpressed by the Minister’s response.

NICRA, who organised the forum, said that they had invited proponents of the increased height limits to participate in the forum panel, but they had declined.

The formal instrument establishing the new height controls will have legal effect once they are gazetted (usually a rubber-stamp operation).

The development application for the CBD towers, which was lodged and placed on public exhibition before the new controls were in place, is still under consideration.

The state government has yet to respond to calls by NICRA and other local organisations to re-exhibit the development proposal once the relevant planning controls are in place.

We're now rapidly approaching that moment.