The recent front-page article in The Bugle "One Simple fix could have saved millions" (online headline: "Warren calls for governance reform after developer contribution failures") contains numerous false facts and misleading information.
Council was not approached by The Bugle for comment or a fact check on the Developer Contributions information in the article.
The below sets out to correct the facts as follows.
Fact check of Bugle article statements:
"Under state rules, councils are expected to review these plans every five years. The work to prepare a replacement for Jamberoo should have started in late 2022. It did not."
- Incorrect. Council reported the repeal of these Plans to Council in December 2023 and in accordance with Section 215(3) of the Regulation Council published a notice of its intention to repeal the plan on its website.
- As far back as January 2022, the CEO mentioned the need to review the Section 7.11 plans (this was also reported in The Bugle) and this work has been reported to Councillors, advisors and the public on numerous occasions since. Reports have been made to Council's Finance Advisory Committee (FAC), Council's Audit Risk & Improvement Committee (ARIC), and numerous Councillor briefings, among others.
- A council report on the Section 7.11 contributions was tabled in December 2024, a press release was also published in December 2024.
"In this case, the shift has left the community with far less funding for essential infrastructure and no say in how it should be prioritised."
- Incorrect. Section 7.11 fees can only be applied to Development Applications which result in a need for additional infrastructure (i.e. subdivision, dual occupancy, etc.) As per the CEO's response to Cr Warren's Question with Notice (QwN) in the 20 May 2025 Ordinary Meeting, Kiama Council will be receiving more contributions fees under the Section 7.12 scenario for the Golden Valley Road subdivision.
"She has also called for a register to track [policy] expiry dates and ensure renewal work begins well in advance."
- Kiama Council already has a Policy Framework Document that was adopted in 2021 and is managed by our Governance team. The framework sets out timeframes and processes for policy review and our policy register is reported regularly to the Executive Leadership Team (ELT).
"Preparing a new plan typically takes 12 months and requires review by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART)."
- Incorrect. What is needed to prepare a new Section 7.11 plan is an adopted Housing Strategy to determine the extent of growth and detailed infrastructure framework and designs to fully understand the cost of all infrastructure needed to support this growth. In the absence of the above, a Section 7.11 plan cannot be produced. Only the provision of new local infrastructure (i.e. sports and recreation facilities, libraries and community halls, roads and public administration) can be funded by Section 7.11 Contributions. If no new or additional local infrastructure is required to support growth in a particular area, then Council is unable to levy contributions under Section 7.11.
- A review by IPART is only required when a Council proposes to charge a contribution rate above the threshold set by the Minister for Planning For the Kiama LGA the threshold is $20,000.
"The failure to renew contribution plans has already cost the community more than $1 million and contributed to a legal dispute that drained significant Council resources."
- Incorrect. As outlined in the CEO's response to Cr Warren's 20 May QwN, the contributions applicable under the former s7.11 plans would have been approximately $350K (i.e. approximately $7,000 per lot) not $1 million.
- No legal dispute has occurred relating to Council's Contribution Framework. On 21 February 2023, Council resolved to refuse DA 10.2021.26.1 for a 50 lot subdivision at Golden Valley Road Jamberoo. This resolution was in conflict with the staff recommendation to approve the DA. The NSW Land and Environment Court approved the DA on 1 May 2024. None of the reasons for refusal listed in the February 2023 resolution make mention of developer contributions.
"And now, $2.4m in cycleway funding is expected to be returned due to missed deadlines and coordination failures."
- Incorrect. This funding was provided by the former Liberal NSW Government for the Minnamurra Boardwalk. Despite receiving this funding, this project was never designed, costed or approved. Council was successful in negotiating the reallocation of this funding to broader cycling and pedestrian infrastructure. Similar to the Boardwalk, the Jamberoo cycleway was never designed, costed or approved until last year when work began and this information formed the report on why it was not possible within the NSW Government's timeframe or within the funding amount provided.
