It would seem that Jim Maher has completely missed the point (“In response” Letters 5/10/11).
I cannot work out what he is getting at.
I have no idea what “Pol 131” contains.
I cannot find it on the ADC website and, as usual, the online request for the supposedly available electronic copy of a document never results in any action.
I did, however, find “Pol 134” which presumably is the result of the review on “Pol 131” at the Council “workshop” held on October 4 which he alludes to.
I agree that “we as a community need to develop a policy which addresses heritage AND sustainability” but there is no mention in there of anything to do with Heritage issues and sustainable domestic energy use. I have previously been informed by Council GM that the public are “not invited to Council workshops” so it will hardly be a “we as a community developed policy”.
Furthermore it does not leave much time for “constructive feedback” to be considered at the October 4 Council Workshop if the invitation for feedback is made public on October 5.
I doubt whether many of the public are aware of the contents of all the “Policies” quoted to them in response to requests for information from Council. Even Council staff are not fully cognisant of those which they throw around with gay abandon and there are hundreds of policies to cover everything imaginable, so that the answer to most questions is “It is Council Policy—”.
On more than one occasion when requesting information re “a single rural dwelling” and looking up the “policy” quoted at me, further investigation reveals that it is for “Multi Building Urban Developments” or a “Subdivision”. It is easy to sit back and quote a policy number, a sub section or a paragraph without having to think too much. It is far more demanding to give an informed, meaningful and intelligent response in terms of commonly used language to communicate with the public on issues. It is also presumably more time consuming but I would guess that the community would feel less at odds with Council actions and Council would not have to spend an inordinate amount of time continually reviewing policies that are found wanting.
Jan Kleeman,
Armidale
