Congratulations to the Warwick Christian College on acquiring Warwick’s most beautiful, pristine site and property – the former Slade School – after lengthy negotiations with the Southern Downs Regional Council. May all your plans for the future be realised. We hope the site is now protected from a sale to developers.
The council must now reveal the financial outcome of the sale of Slade, as the money derived from the sale of this community owned property must be allocated to the purchase of another property, for community use.
The Community Plan, which drives all other plans in council, has as one of its stated goals the “development of community hubs as a central place to meet that is owned by the community and used by community groups” (p10 council’s new draft Community Plan) hence a new location needs to be procured. Community use of Slade will be limited, due to the government requirement for blue cards.
We must ask why the Regional Council chose not to consult further with the Slade Lives Again group, following the lodgement of tenders for Slade, when it had the capabilility to do so? Surely both tenders should have been treated equally? Councillors were elected to speak for the community who elected them.
We need Councillors who appreciate their roles – just as nurses are employed because there are patients in hospitals to care for, and teachers have positions because there are children to teach, Councillors are required because there are people and issues in the region to represent and support. My wishes for the newly elected council are:
We look forward to a council that operates with honesty and integrity, openly and not behind closed doors in a cone of silence, communicating with their constituents, instead of relying on press releases to communicate and disseminate information to the public.
We need one where Councillors are visible and well known within the community, who, as servants of their constituents, seek out people to hear their opinions/views by consulting with them, rather than sitting in an office waiting for people to come – a council that is as sensitive to people’s needs as it is to procedures.
We look forward to one that is accessible and contactable, which acknowledges correspondence and answers mail, emails and telephone calls. What other business shows people so little respect by ignoring correspondence – can we expect replies to objections to the new Planning Scheme soon?
March 31 is the date of the Local Government elections, when we exercise our democratic right and vote for the people who will serve the region best, for the next four years. While amalgamation issues have been challenging, it is time for changes in attitude and focus. We live in a great part of the world with a special community spirit – let’s give the responsibility of leading this region to those who will put the people’s needs first.
Margaret McKinnon
Warwick
