Today I sent my 2nd email to the CCC Councillors, of which I thought I would share with you. I didn't get much of a response from my first, which doesn't surprise me because I gave them too much truth and they thought I/We would go away. Well I am not ready to call it a done deal yet !
Dear Clarence Councillors,
I and many other Clarence residents found the Council meeting of 15th January extremely interesting and noted that there were 3 motions to “Rescind the Vote”.
I also noted that only one letter was tabled, one letter that Mayor Blomeley had received that was in favour of the AFL Training Centre. What about the emails you all received, including mine against the proposal? I have attended and taken many Executive and Councillor minutes for 15 years, and from my experience ALL incoming correspondence, whether it be by letter or email should be tabled. Despite the rules governing “Mayor’s Communication”, basically what that tells me is that anything negative is slipped away out of sight!
It is very clear that most of you are deliberately ignoring Clarence residents. They either don’t want this training centre with prime Public land being “Leased” to a multi-million dollar corporation for the ridiculous rent of $1.00 per year plus rates or the fact that they request that it be located somewhere else.
Mayor Blomeley has accused me as spreading “false information” regarding the $1.00 rent, well unless he has documentations to the contrary, myself and many Tasmanians read this information from the ABC News:
"Under the contract between the AFL and Tasmanian government, the club would pay $1 rent for use of the land."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-21/tasmanian-afl-team-training-centre-to-be-built-at-rosny/103256150?utm_campaign=abc_news_web&utm_content=link&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_source=abc_news_web
Comments to me from Mayor Blomeley:
To be clear:
- it is Council’s intention to lease the land to the State Government and charge rates. Council will not be putting any ratepayer money towards the project. This land will not be gifted or handed over, and
the overwhelming majority of Clarence residents who engaged in the community consultation (the second highest level of engagement after Kangaroo Bay) support an AFL /AFLW High Performance Centre in our City.
Charge rent? Lease the land? How much? Because a $1.00 a year rent plus rates for prime real estate to the AFL, a multi-million dollar corporation, is treating the residents of Clarence with contempt!
I cannot understand how “the overwhelming majority of Clarence residents” can apply when only 959 answered the survey out of 49,009 who were eligible to have their say on the survey and let’s not forget the 20% who did the survey were from outside of Clarence.
Many Tasmanians do not want the Stadium and many Clarence residents do not want the Training Centre.
I also draw your attention to the CCC Minutes of the 9th October 2023 where it was deemed by MGS that the AFL High Performance Centre could not be fully realised with the City Heart Plan.
5.15. While an AFL High Performance Centre may appear to fit within the area of the former Rosny Golf Course site, extensive cut and fill would be required to accommodate two ovals and the building with high-level concepts indicating approximately 31% of the Parklands being utilised for this development, and the vision for Rosny Parklands in the draft City Heart Plan could not be fully realised.
5.16. If one oval rather than two, in the Parklands, could be acceptable to the State Government, potentially halving the site coverage, as well as high levels of community access through and around the site were provided, a welcoming and inclusive parkland experience for Clarence residents could be achieved more harmoniously, while leveraging the economic and social benefits of having the AFL/AFLW teams based here in Clarence.
There is much more in these minutes that I hope all councillors will take the time to read.
Clarence residents want a chance to ‘Have Their Say”
I truly hope that you start listening to the residents of Clarence.