Eurobodalla Council has made an independent probity review into the development of the draft Batemans Bay Masterplan publicly available, with general manager Mark Ferguson saying the review came out of the extended public exhibition.
"Much of the draft plan did not align with community expectation. There were perceived conflicts of interest between Council's dual roles as landowner and planning decision maker, challenges to evidence supporting building heights and density and population and dwelling data, and concern about a lack of climate-resilience planning," Mr Ferguson says.
"In these circumstances, commissioning a probity report is best practice. We have that now. It includes a range of recommendations to improve the plan, many of which align with community feedback from the draft's public exhibition."
The probity report is available on the Batemans Bay Masterplan webpage and will be considered at an extraordinary meeting of Council on Tuesday 10 March. Mr Ferguson says Council staff have taken onboard community concerns and suggestions and will combine these with recommendations from the probity report to lay out clear options for the plan before future decisions are made.
"More community workshops, under an independent facilitator, will be held next month and Council's planners are working with consultants to prepare the technical reports informing the next draft. Maximum building heights will be reduced in response to community feedback," he says.
Mr Ferguson said Council is taking a more structured approach to consultation and coordination of all future planning work, both among its own teams and with relevant stakeholders.
"While long planning horizons help align planning with climate change and coastal studies – these typically look ahead to 2100 – we need to keep and explain shorter-term changes as a priority," Mr Ferguson said.
"We're committed to working with the community to refine a clear and achievable long-term masterplan for Batemans Bay."
