“There is a great opportunity at this site for the right development to lead the way forward in the future utilisation of the entire site” Derwent Valley Mayor Martyn Evans said. “Any development will need to fit within Heritage guidelines and illustrate a real benefit for the community”
Mayor Evans said there was already strong interest in the 1.5 hectare sportsground, including suggestions that its sale could open up an extension to the town's central business district. The whole precinct is 2.8 hectares in size and is only one block from the New Norfolk CBD and is immediately adjacent to the town's major supermarket.
Mayor Evans said the council had been working in partnership with the Tasmanian Heritage Council to make the land and buildings an attractive development opportunity. "The council is on board; the community is on board; and now we are asking the business sector to get on board," he said.
If the ouncil accepts a development project the funds from the sale of the oval area will go towards the restoration of the Barracks which pre dates any buildings at Port Arthur and is one of Tasmania’s significant early buildings.
The above photo shows Derwent Valley Mayor Martyn Evans, left, Councillor James Graham, Deputy Mayor Craig Farrell and Councillor Scott Shaw and his assistance dog Scotty, on site at the Willow Court oval today.
August 20th 2005 Gordon Fyfe's letter in the Gazette asking "Where is the plan" is more relevant today than it was then. He was referring to the then sale of Willow Court to Mrs Adams and asking where was the promised public consulatation phase of DVC property sell off? In May 2003 Ian Brown announced to an angry public meeting at Willow Court (refer Gazette) he had no business plans but that day was the start of those and physical building work would commence in 18 months.He told the angry assembled audience that the ratepayers were ultimately financially liable for Willow Court. We had a near repeat of his same words some three and half years later. In September 2009 we were advised again by Ian Brown still there were no business plans, no proofed up concepts as there were no business financials, the $2.23 million that had been gained from the 2003 sale to Mrs Adams three years earlier was almost gone on administration and that the public assets have been allowed to deteriorate to near derelict conditon that would cost additional to recover millions of asset value. Ian Brown has now resigned and our community has been left with a massive mess. We are now told the Oval is being sold at tender and the money is to be directed towards the upgrade of the Barracks, in the same direction where the previous millions disappeared. Is this just more money to be dribble away down that massive black hole or is there a real plan as Mr Fyfe asked way back in 2003?
ReplyDeleteUntil a real business plan is on the table for public comment and after such an appauling track record for the past 11 years, it is impossible to accept that management knows. Any further sell offs of public assets especially to support a project that has been a public financial disaster for our community should be stopped. It is time for hard questions to be answered, get accountablity done, sort out the mess and get good management into place with a sound plan. The Councilors need to start to get the process and job done right before they allow any further asset stripping of the site. After the local government election promises, all we have is more of the same as the councilors who are tasked to get the job done right have failed.They failed to monitor outcomes of past committees and failed to monitor money being spent, failed to have plans and failed to get results and our community and have delivered to our community a massive liability and massive embarresment. All the pre-election posturing was hot air as they continue on a rudderless ship to financial disaster as they still have no ideas where they are headed as they have no plan. Our community is no better off and further asset stripping of Willow Court to feed more ineffective management is not the answer. How much is it going to cost to do what? Without any plan it is a complete waste of time and more valuable money.
If Mayor Evans is stating the community is on board he is completely misguided.
ReplyDeleteA correction is required as the date for the angry public meeting that Ian Brown headed up at Willow Court was May 2006 and not May 2003 as typed in the anonymous letter. It was a typo error and not a factual error and should read 2006. It was close to four years ago.
ReplyDeleteYes we are left with no business plans, no ideas that have been financially proven that will work and be sustainable for the upkeep of any part of Willow Court, the millions has been spent, there are no other ideas that are proven up, the assets/buildings have been nearly destroyed costing more money to recover. What a hopeless costly mess. And the ratepayers are being expected to keep funding this by paying staff and counillors money? When will councilors get their act together and sort the mess out? If management cannot or does not have the ability to perform, (lets face it they have had 11 years to demonstrate they cannot do to date), then get rid of them and get it sorted out. No one would operate a commercial business like this and this is what this project is a commerical business that no one is running.They only survive because the ratepayers are feeding them endless sums of ratepayers money that no on is monitoring results from. It is a simple drain on the ratepayers purse.
ReplyDeleteMayor Tim Morris took our community into this commercial enterprise of going into the purchase of the Royal Derwent Hospital site without any mandate from the ratepayers. He has been very quiet on this matter for years. How much money did his time on the project cost ratepayers, now much of Mitch Clark's time cost the ratepayers when they were working on this project. This whole project has cost the ratepayers millions of dollars and for what return? What has happened to the vocal counillor candidates at the last local election who wanted answers? Where are those answers? What have they done apart from gone quiet? Or have they all signed confidentiality agreements so they don't talk anymore? Have they all fallen in step already? The community had one meeting in September 2009 to discuss Willow Court that started to expose some of the hidden truths. We fell into what the Council wanted to do at that meeting by creating another committee. So where is that committee and what has it done in the past 4 months? Is it sitting, has it disbanded? If it is sitting what has it done? If it is disbanded then what have the Councilors done.
Has Ian Brown resigned all of his positions as Manager of Valley Vision, Project Manager of Willow Court and other projects and Economic Development officer of the council as he is listed in the Annual Report? Or is this more "rebadging" of a Claytons resignation that he has resigned but not entirely?
Instead of all of the shades of gray in the council its is time for answers.
Where are the results or what have the ratepayers got from the overseas trip to Spain by the Mayor Nick Cracknell and Ian Brown?
ReplyDeleteWhere are the results or what have the ratepayers got form the overeas trip by the General Manager, Mayor Nick Cracknell and Ian Brown and their wives to China?
How can a small municipality justify overseas juckets?
Does anybody seriously think that Damien Bester, aka 'planter box guy', has even the slightest level of skill to deliver on the Willow Court Site......???
ReplyDeleteAs for the trips overseas, from what I understand in Spain the Willow Court project received international recognition and the opportunity to network with similar projects from around the world. As for the trip to China, do the people from the Derwent Valley seriously think that the money to invest in the Willow Court site will originate solely from within Tasmania/Australia??? The truth is that there has been significant investment interest from Europe and Asia, and Valley vision sought to use this interest to redevelop the site.
It is sad that Valley Vision has been dismantled. The public bullying of the staff has been disgraceful. It is the small-minded mentality that New Norfolk is renown for in the State. The community has lost people that stood up when the Federal Government acted illegally to refuse the payment of funds. You now have in power people who would prefer to suck up to the Federal government at any cost - great to know that we have people with such morals representing us..... The Federal government did all it could to demonstrate incompetence, including an unprecendented audit of Valley Vision. This audit turned up nothing. Just like the financial review by the DVV will also turn up nothing and simply be a big waste of time and rate-payer money.
The Derwent Valley and the associated council has been sitting on the Willow Court site for decades. When Valley Vision finally tried to effect change, there was nothing but opposition to change. Since a few misinformed members of the Community claimed that nothing was achieved, perhaps people should compare what the Council achieved during their decades of responsibility and compare that with what was achieved with Valley Vision at the helm for only one decade. I think you will be shocked.
It will be interesting to sit back and watch what the Council does now. They have been gifted with all of the complicated legal, heritage, engineering and financial documents from Valley Vision. Even with such a head-start, I am confident that will not achieve anything.
I am a really angry resident!!!!!
@Really Angry Resident: You seem to know a lot about Valley Vision, but have made a few mistakes in your assertions.
ReplyDeleteValley Vision hasn't been dismantled. The staff have resigned of their own accord and by all accounts have new jobs to go to. But the board still exists and the council is still providing the same level of funding it always did.
The Federal Government acted in accordance with its grant agreement with the council when it withdrew funds which had not been spent after three years. Nothing illegal at all - and don't forget the council took the government to court but backed out because it had no case.
Furthermore, the "unprecedented audit" of Valley Vision was done by the State Government, not the Feds. And why not, anyway? This group has received millions of dollars of public money over the years and any group in that position is liable for audit.
The council has had Willow Court for about 10 years now, not the "decades" you mention. Sure, not enough has been done in that time and the job should never have been given to Valley Vision in the first place.
I don't know what documents you say Valley Vision has "gifted" to the council, but weren't they all paid for by the council anyway? As I say, I don't know what documents you refer to, but didn't the Valley Vision guy admit (at that public forum last year) that there was no business plan for Willow Court? Could that be the reason they haven't been able to obtain any grants for Willow Court?
As for Bester, I don't know much about his abilities, but I've seen his name in the paper as the manager of a museum in Hobart so I guess he knows something about this type of thing?
Anyway, he is presently copping a lot on his blog over all this. How many other councillors give the public a chance to have their say, in the way Bester is doing? Just a thought.
@ Angry Resident
ReplyDelete"It will be interesting to sit back and watch what the Council does now"
If you care so much about Willow Court "don't sit back" get involved make a difference, actions speak louder than words
"Does anybody seriously think that Damien Bester, aka 'planter box guy', has even the slightest level of skill to deliver on the Willow Court Site"
I think Damien has done a lot for Willow Court, and if people attended council meetings regularly they would have seen first hand the level of commitment that Damien has given.
I don't believe Damien has ever said that he has got all the skills to personally deliver on Willow Court Its bigger than any one person can manage, but at least he is trying and making an effort
More pages of talk and little action! Throw some more money at it, i'm scared to drive past it, it tugs at my wallet.
ReplyDeleteHey there Anonymous. The new council is working hard on Willow Court and I for one would welcome your suggestions. We have a passion for it and we want the place open to visitors as soon as possible. Why don't you come along to a council meeting and share your ideas? I'd be happy to assist. Kind regards, Damian Bester
ReplyDeleteIt seems one anonymous person is personally attacking Damion Bester which is wrong to do so. Councilor Bester has just been appointed onto Council and seems to be the only Councilor with the guts to ask the serious questions of what has bee going on while the others sit there not saying much at all. For the overseas trips, lets get facts right again, the Spanish trip was heralded as a great success and Valley Vision put out misleading facts that it came third in the world. How far from the truth again as a glance at the official web site showed that in the many categories Derwent Valley came came equal last in their category. A far cry from being up with the best in the world Mr Anonoymous. Where are the results from that trip? What tangible results can be seen?
ReplyDeleteChina, lets take close look at that. Ok Mr Anonymous where are the results? I understand the trip was to create a twin town with a China town. Maybe a real hard look at what took place during that trip would be good to see how good public relations with a major world economic force was created by those who went there?
If this Anonymous person wants to rant and rave get your facts right before you mouth off.
I want to make it clear that the first anonymous writer is not the same person who wrote the other ill informed anonymous letter.
ReplyDeleteAt least Damien Bester had the guts to make sure his name wasn't recorded for thanking the last mayor for his "good work"
ReplyDeleteDid Damien Bester thank the last Mayor for his good work? Tut tut Damien. At least Damien wasn't Mayor and accountable!
ReplyDeleteRegards Angry Anonymous, Angry has every right to be angry but it seems he/she is angry for the questions being asked and raised rather than why the rest of us are angry.
I am angry as after 12 years we have a mess, millions spent, no results and a massive liability on ratepayers for what is left in DVC hands on the ratpeayer purse.If overseas trips have resulted in solid returns lets see where they are? if they are there for Willow Court then there would be no argument. What we were told after the Spain trip was more political spin and a twist of the facts and truth. We were misled and so were many people around the
state as the news teams scrambled to withdraw the story when they too found out the truth from the web site.
So Angry where are the results and lets leave out the politics posturing and the secrecy that has been the mainstay of this council and other cheerleaders everytime questions have been asked as they claim it is all under a confidentiality agreement and cannot tell us, the stakeholders.
Without any business plans where are the management going? Where is the money going? They cannot tell us as they don't have a plan.
Maybe Angry can provide solid answers. I am very keen to learn of Angrys valuable input and anyone else.
Councilor Bester, then let the community see the plan that the new council has created? We want to see the full executive analysis, marketing plan, operational plan the financial planning break evens, working capital requirements, salaries , employment numbers, CPI adjusted figures and break even points of the concepts and costs associated with the concepts. Is the project sustainable? What is the project? How will it work in isolation? how much will it cost to recover the damage on the site? All of these questions are straight forward and reasonable and should be to hand after 12 years and $2.6 million plus spent to date.
ReplyDeleteIt we have a committee, a set of paid councilors and executive staff then why are you asking for input at this late stage? We had a full time staff member working on this project who has just resigned. Where is his work? Where are his ideas? Are they proven?
Surely we must have something to show after 12 years millions of dollars.You cant be just starting to ask for ideas only now? Come on. Really? If those who have been working on this for all that time are still searching for answers the best answer is to remove those people and get people who can give answers. We would save so much money on people who have failed to deliver to date. Heh, now theres a great idea and I give you that for FREE.Put that into your strategy.
G'day & thanks for your free idea, Anonymous. In fact, this is exactly the reason I stood for election last year, and that's not the only thing we are in complete agreement about. Like you, I want so see where all the money has been spent - and I have gained the agreement of councillors for a financial analysis to be done. Like you, I want to see all those documents you have listed - and I have a motion to this effect before the council tonight.
ReplyDeleteI've now been on council for about three months and remain one of its most vocal critics. The difference is that I have made my name and my
ideas public.
It would be great to see you at the council meeting tonight & I would be pleased to assist if you would like to put a question to the
council.
Cheers,
Damian
@ Councilor Bester
ReplyDeleteThank you for your invitation to help me ask questions. I can assure you that I have that ability
It is sad to see this post now removed as it is probably the most relevant issue in the Derwent Valley and should be kept on page 1.
I feel the answers are already available. There is no business plan only piles of documents that have gone through the motions. Plenty of committees and talk fests but no results. For the past 12 years and some approx $5.6 million to include salaries of executives there are no results. The assets of the buildings have been nearly been destroyed and the cost will, be in the millions to recover.Ian Brown stated some $15 million as his guess. So why sell more assets off that will never cover such high costs? Councilors will want us to move on and wash the past under the carpet, which roughly translated means if the community finds out then they will know the councilors have not been doing their jobs and allowed this to happen as they have failed to monitor the project or the actions of the executives. No wonder they want us to forget the past. I second guess here now, the forward plan will be to throw some small sums of money to a consultant in vain hope they have the superior intelligence he/she will bail out the council. Of course an inferior sum of dollars will be offered say along the lines spent to spatial plans consultants to regurgitate and revise past plans of say $20K. Such small sums to cover a $15 million project are ill informed. Of course business plans cost a professional or experts around $250,000 and upwards to create. Now that you are amongst the crowd the best course is a second public meeting to expose the full truth and to allow the public a full disclosure of facts. More importantly the facts that we the ratepayers are ultimately financially liable for this mess. Something that the last meeting failed to advise the community. I suspect the public will be seeking a non confidence vote as why could they allow the same crowd that has allowed this mess to be created the hold on the reigns on going anywhere with it from now. They have had 12 years to demonstrate they don't have the capability's to deliver a postive result. What they have delivered is a complete disaster and mess that someone will have to bail them out on. Its crunch time for the Council and its executive. Councilor Bester you are now amongst it its time to deliver as well. The ratepayers deserve another public meeting that is well advertised and well known about in advance.
Call it a full disclosure meeting. This time the Mayor can adjudicate not some professional blow in.