In what I have to describe as a cowardly act, the City of Port Phillip Council yesterday voted to support the current development proposal for 1-5 Tiuna Grove. 

It is a betrayal of the residents, a betrayal of the Planning Scheme and a betrayal of the interim heritage protection provided by the Minister of Planning in July.  We now have the farcical situation where the Council has approved the demolition of all but the very front rooms of each of the buildings whilst at the same time proceeding with a process to apply permanent heritage protection to them.

This leaves the residents to battle the developer alone, at VCAT in December.

During the meeting, Councillor Tim Baxter declared a conflict of interest and absented himself from the vote. The remaining Councillors voted as follows:

Supported residents:

Andrew Bond (Liberal Party, Lake Ward), Dick Gross (ALP, Lake Ward),  Louise Crawford (ALP, Canal Ward), Marcus Pearl (Liberal Party, Gateway Ward).

Supported developer:                

David Brand (Independent, Lake Ward), Ogy Simic (Greens, Gateway Ward), Katherine Copsey (Greens, Lake Ward), Bernadine Voss (Independent, Gateway Ward)               

Abstained: Tim Baxter (Greens, Canal Ward)

The votes were tied 4 in favour of the proposal and 4 against.  Under the standing rules, Chair Councillor Bernadine Voss had a second, deciding vote and she voted in favour of the proposal.

If you live in the City of Port Phillip, please remember those Councillors above that supported the developer over the residents, when they next come up for re-election in 2020, and deal with them accordingly.