This is no just longer just a battle over a restaurant but one that raises the question of the whole integrity of Local Government. Do local communities and residents through their elected representative have the right to influence planning decisions or not. The No Maccas in the Hills campaign believe that we do and that the Shire of Yarra Ranges should fight for our rights through all available legal means by immediately launching an appeal to the Supreme Court. Stonnington Council recently launched a similar appeal of a VCAT decision on the point of law that VCAT did not take the level of community opposition into account. .

The Council has until the 7th of November to launch an appeal (28 days since the decision). The council is in “caretaker mode” until after the 27th of October. This leaves 10 days when the newly elected council could meet to decide to launch an appeal. However a Special Council meeting would need to be called as the next scheduled meeting of the council after the election actually falls on the 7th of November.

We know that such an appeal would be expensive. We also know that such an appeal may not be supported by the Council Planning Department but lets not forget that the Council Planning Department recommended approval for the Maccas in Tecoma to begin with and it was only through exerting democratic pressure on councilors that the community got the right result at Council. We need Councilors to agree that despite the expense the principle of defending the rights of the community in the planning process is worth fighting for!

NOTE: Questions can be asked by people of the council but they need to submitted to the council by 5PM on Tuesday. See form http://www.yarraranges.vic.gov.au/files/ec0ea414-afed-4cc9-aa68-9d0300da85f4/Public%20question%20form.pdf

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