The work continues…

It has been a while since my last update, but I haven’t forgotten about you!

First - a big thank you to everyone who has signed this petition, particularly those who have joined recently. It is wonderful to see that numbers continue to grow - 1,084 today, which is fantastic!

Work has continued since the close of the Civic Precinct public consultation period at the end of February. People have been asking questions and making statements at Council meetings to express their views and concerns. An external consultant was engaged by the City to analyse the results of the community feedback. Their analysis showed overall sentiment as 37% negative, 28% positive, 23% neutral and 12% “mixed”.

Disappointingly, the consultants were not asked to include community petitions like this one in their analysis. Arguably, that means the negative sentiment percentage was understated.

Council staff did, however, refer to this and another online petition in their report to Council in March.

The item was carried over until the April meeting, which was held last night. That gave Councillors more time to consider the material available to them and hold workshops.

Last night, Council approved the staff recommendations about the next steps in the project, with one amendment (about setting a costs ceiling).

It may be a while before a final decision is made. There is certainly a lot for the Councillors to work through and consider.

We can only hope that they do listen, and keep Rankin Gardens as it is. 

Meanwhile, I will keep this petition open so I can send further updates.

Many thanks again for your continuing interest and support.