Albatross comes to a head

ANGER has deepened over Shellharbour City Council's decision to proceed with the proposed development of a medium density housing project within the bounds of the Albatross Drive estate, after the defeat of a rescission motion lodged by Crs Jeff Bailey, Charlie Mifsud and Geoff Rose at council's last meeting.

The motion called for the approval of the DA made last December to be rescinded to enable clarification and consultation between the current residents on the estate and the developer.

According to Cr Mifsud,, the developer is willing to meet residents but said that for the meeting to have impact on Council's decision-making processes, it needed to be endorsed and supported by Council.

After lengthy discussion and strong representations on behalf of the residents, particularly by Crs Don Briggs and Charlie Mifsud, the rescission motion was defeated, with the Mayor having to use his casting vote to tip the balance of the 6/6 vote " a repeat of the vote from the December 12 meeting which resulted in the rescission motion being lodged.

Councillors Briggs, Bailey, Mifsud, Rose, Jeffreys and Stewart supported the Notice of Rescission, with the Mayor and Councilors Hawker, Hore, Leedham, Bird and Gillett voting against it.

Cr Briggs said he was disappointed that Council had not taken the opportunity to facilitate consultation between residents and the developer.

Cr Mifsud said Council had missed a golden opportunity to demonstrate to the community at large that they put the interests of residents and ratepayer first.

"They should have deferred the matter for three weeks to enable the consultation to take place.

"I do not believe the deferment would have materially affected the developer, particularly since he had already offered to meet with the residents to discuss their issues with the development."