Whatever happened to Public Open Space
All Councils in Victoria take a 4% land contribution from each subdivision they approve .They don't do this out of their good will, but because our forefathers in planning in this , the most livable place in the world, insisted on it .( Subdivision Act in the State of Victoria)
I say "used to insist on it" because many Councils have been just pocketing the money -- just quietly .
This came to light recently when one local Council in Melbourne was persuaded to buy some open space the people of the area wanted to keep. Whitehorse Council recently bought back a school site ,( less than 40 house sites)
In Colac , the people bought the site for a school they wanted to be built some decades ago , Inspite of this fact , the Education department and their colleagues in Parliament expects us to pay them for the site.
Even if we are to accept this outrage , one wonders what amount of land our Colac Otway Shire Council still owes us from POS contributions of developers over the years ?.
If we said the amount of land subdivided in Colac area of CO over the last thirty years was equivalent in to 800 houses, that's about 40 houses worth of land . Enough to pay for our school site second time around.
Councils don't like to aquire real land because they would then have to manage that land . Its easier , but not right , to just take it in money and run .
We have yet to confirm how much POS monies Colac Otway Shire have acquired on our behalf in the last thirty years. Check the situation out in yours .
I say "used to insist on it" because many Councils have been just pocketing the money -- just quietly .
This came to light recently when one local Council in Melbourne was persuaded to buy some open space the people of the area wanted to keep. Whitehorse Council recently bought back a school site ,( less than 40 house sites)
In Colac , the people bought the site for a school they wanted to be built some decades ago , Inspite of this fact , the Education department and their colleagues in Parliament expects us to pay them for the site.
Even if we are to accept this outrage , one wonders what amount of land our Colac Otway Shire Council still owes us from POS contributions of developers over the years ?.
If we said the amount of land subdivided in Colac area of CO over the last thirty years was equivalent in to 800 houses, that's about 40 houses worth of land . Enough to pay for our school site second time around.
Councils don't like to aquire real land because they would then have to manage that land . Its easier , but not right , to just take it in money and run .
We have yet to confirm how much POS monies Colac Otway Shire have acquired on our behalf in the last thirty years. Check the situation out in yours .
Labels: open space levy
posted by Little John at 7:37 PM
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