What is your latest Council screw up experience?

[boobook]

I am sick of councils wasting money and being completely incompetent.

I got 2 parking tickets recently on my vehicle that I have been parking out the front for the last 20 years. They put the parking tickets on my windscreen about 25mm from my easy-to-see valid parking Permit. I complained and I have to document te details and make a claim.

But not as bad as Melbourne's Sally Capp I guess.

In Nov 2022 she proclaimed that Covid has been good for the city of Melbourne. Really? It is a ghost town with hundreds of closed shops in previously busy areas. Sheez.

Or this.

Lord Mayor Sally Capp’s jaunt to a Singapore summit last July — a trip that included investigating the city state’s approach to graffiti management — cost a total $30,550 in airfares, hotels and other expenses for the three-person delegation.

I can tell her the fix.

1)Dont run graffiti courses and pay grants to graffitists
2)If you really want to learn from Singapore, cane people who do graffiti. Here is a free tip Sally, there IS NO GRAFFITI in Singapore.

Or maybe there wouldn't be the traffic congestion you talk about when putting up the parking fees.

Hint there are not many cars that visit the city anymore, and the congestion is because you have taken most of the roads for bike lanes.

 

[Colly18]

Sounds like one for the WCMO thread!?
BTW I'm pretty sure the city road congestion problems are a combination of too many people in big cities, and in Australia's case, our insistance on driving a car rather than taking public transport. I'm not sure how many of us would be prepared to go down the Netherlands model of more cycling; but I'm darn sure we should have better and more use of public transport.

Cycling in Amsterdam and the Netherlands

All you need to know about cycling in Amsterdam, one of the world's most bike-friendly cities. Safety rules, bike hire and crazy Dutch cycling statistics.

www.amsterdamtips.com

 

[Toyasaurus]

EBC.
Their slogan, building better roads.
What a complete load of bollock`s, these morons couldn`t build a cup of tea.
I drive one of the local school buses, I spend more time navigating potholes and previously repaired roads than anything else.
My bus nearly fell down one this morning.
They are currently repairing a bit of Tomakin rd that was repaired at the end of last November, they are yet too touch 2 other cockups 200mts further up which have also been repaired recently.
The state gov`t isn`t any better, the Princess hwy is a joke all round here.

Neither of them seems to understand that too fix the roads you must first fix the underlying problems with them, drainage soft base, etc.

Then you get these twit`s jumping out of a ute or truck with a shovel full of hotmix and chuck it in the hole and walk away, presto fixo.
The first truck that hits it pushes it straight back out again, I would love to see the SWMS and show workcover what is going on.
These pricks are wasting our money for nothing.

 

[Ron0z]

Bega Shire Council seems to be getting itself into debt. You have to wonder about their skills in financial management. A letter was circulated to ratepayers which suggested doubling the rates to help address the problem, but they've reneged on that. Thankfully. There's to be an increase of 43% only. I'm breathing easily already.

 

[Toyasaurus]

I`m not sure how we dodged that bullet.

 

[Komang]

Million to fix skatepark only use by handful of kids on the weekend. The park with dying plats and tall grass ! And lots of rubbish.
Put the money more on the park area where more people enjoying it.
To much coruptions and CCC throw racism to police who using their K9 to catch the criminal.

 

[John U]

Idiots in council who insist on orienting houses to minimise the solar efficiency of the design. These people should be experts in this field.
'Build your house facing east(the street) and west mate! West facing windows are great for solar efficiency.'
Yeah, maybe if you're growing tomatoes in winter, but not to live in.

I now know why well designed houses are as rare as rocking horse poo in my area. Council encourages people to do the opposite.

 

[Ron0z]

well designed houses are as rare

Not every owner can afford solar panels, but I have to wonder why there aren't any regs to state that architects must design houses with at least one part of the roof facing north (and at the best angle for the latitude) to capture the sun when someone puts them on.

There's also a trend for houses to be built without eaves. Dumb. Such buildings should never be passed.

 

[Ron0z]

not sure how we dodged that bullet

I wonder if there was never an intention to double. That was only meant to scare folks, and the 43% was the target all along.

 

[John U]

Not every owner can afford solar panels, but I have to wonder why there aren't any regs to state that architects must design houses with at least one part of the roof facing north (and at the best angle for the latitude) to capture the sun when someone puts them on.

There's also a trend for houses to be built without eaves. Dumb. Such buildings should never be passed.

It's not that so much. For Melbourne it's as simple as (if possible) minimising east and west facing windows, putting living areas and windows on the North side, and having an eave on the North to shelter the windows in the peak of summer and letting maximum sun in in winter. In my area people in most circumstances appear to do the opposite of all these guidelines, even when their blocks are really well set up for it.

Proper insulation/internal thermal mass should come next. Solar after that. With the aim that the house should be able to remain comfortable with minimal extra heating or cooling.

This is an excellent resource, and council staff who deal in build approvals should know this back to front. They should be advising every new build of the benefits of orienting a house properly.

Passive design | YourHome

‘Passive design’ is design that works with the local climate to maintain a comfortable temperature in the home.

www.yourhome.gov.au

Ours didn't past the first person who looked at it. They pretty much just said 'no way Jose'.

I think the eaves thing is a problem with block sizes, plus building companies not encouraging it. From council point of view an eave is no different to a wall so people ditch the eaves and push the walls out further.

 

[Albynsw]

Not every owner can afford solar panels, but I have to wonder why there aren't any regs to state that architects must design houses with at least one part of the roof facing north (and at the best angle for the latitude) to capture the sun when someone puts them on.

There's also a trend for houses to be built without eaves. Dumb. Such buildings should never be passed.

Regulations like that are too restrictive and are detrimental to other design aspects of a home.

The system we have now works well, there is a minimum efficiency criteria that you need to achieve to have a design passed and it is up to the individual to use the various options available on the market to achieve that. Some are more cost effective than others like having shading of windows via eaves is cheaper than achieving the result by having no eaves and using performance glazing to overcome the issue, the end result is the same but the cost is different

 

[John U]

The system we have now works well, there is a minimum efficiency criteria that you need to achieve to have a design passed and it is up to the individual to use the various options available on the market to achieve that.

The current system has some massive holes in it which could be addressed pretty easily if the will was there.

Across the road from me, 2 townhouses just completed. Both have the main room in the upper floor which has the complete western wall as glass. That room will be unbearable in summer. I'm guessing the tenants will never use the room in summer, or if they need to the entire wall/window will be covered in aluminium foil a couple of days after they move in. Council approved through. I guess they must use rain water for the toilets.

 

[LongRoad2Go]

Some family members have holiday homes north of Sydney which are located one row of houses from a village beach. The owners of the houses that line the beach pay exceedingly higher land rates than those literally located across the road - how the hell is that fair?!

Council uses the bullshit reason they need to maintain 'seawalls' ... the same seawalls constructed by the individual home owners because Council wouldn't, but, Council was happy to prohibit the owners from building further or repairing seawalls because of 'environmental reasons'!

Typically Australian, the owners ignored Council and improved the walls so they won't lose more land when big storms hit NOTE: the beach remains totally unaffected.

The streets in the village don't have kerb or gutter either ... where are all the rates going? Probably to build unused skate parks and 'cultural centres' in the CBD located 20km away.

 

[Albynsw]

The current system has some massive holes in it which could be addressed pretty easily if the will was there.

Across the road from me, 2 townhouses just completed. Both have the main room in the upper floor which has the complete western wall as glass. That room will be unbearable in summer. I'm guessing the tenants will never use the room in summer, or if they need to the entire wall/window will be covered in aluminium foil a couple of days after they move in. Council approved through. I guess they must use rain water for the toilets.

So you want the authorities to be able to dictate to you where you put rooms and windows? I don’t
As I said before they have obviously met the energy efficiency criteria so are at least equal to your home in that respect
You may think their layout is a dumb idea but it is their choice and they have complied with the requirements

 

[John U]

So you want the authorities to be able to dictate to you where you put rooms and windows? I don’t
As I said before they have obviously met the energy efficiency criteria so are at least equal to your home in that respect
You may think their layout is a dumb idea but it is their choice and they have complied with the requirements

I want councils to provide solid advice to people when theyre building, based on good logic, to help them build liveable homes.

 

[Toyasaurus]

liveable or efficient?

 

[Albynsw]

I want councils to provide solid advice to people when theyre building, based on good logic, to help them build liveable homes.

That is not their job nor should it be. It is councils ( or your private Certifier’s) job to ensure you comply with the relevant codes and requirements of the local Development Control Plan.The rest is none of there business
There are minimum energy efficiency requirements that are state wide for new work. Certification for this is not done by local council but by qualified specialists who follow state guidelines and will provide a BASIX certificate that accompanies your building application
There are numerous companies that will design you a home that complies with all the regulations.
If you want a better design find a better designer and pay the appropriate fee

In a previous life I used to design and construct homes, there were plenty of cheaper options as there were dearer ones. They all comply with energy efficiency guidelines
The consumer can choose what they want according to their budget

 

[typhoeus]

So, how do the developers get away with designs that overshadow neighbours,, are built right to the boundary etc that you see occasionally on current affair ?

 

[Albynsw]

So, how do the developers get away with designs that overshadow neighbours,, are built right to the boundary etc that you see occasionally on current affair ?

The developers dont make any of the rules the council does. If you think blocks are too small and everyone is living on top of one another that is councils fault not the developer
There are a few basic general compliance requirements that include distance from side boundary to house wall and another relating to the distance your gutter is from the boundary. Then there are height restrictions to both the ceiling and the ridge. You also need to provide shadow diagrams at the suns equinox to demonstrate the shading effect on adjoining neighbors. Further to that there are privacy requirements for windows facing into neighbouring properties as well.

There are only two ways to get building approval and that is either using the local council guidlines which vary from council to council and seeking approval through them or you can use private certification under the State rules which are consistent guidelines statewide. These can work in your favour if you have a tough local council or against you if the local rukes are lest stringent.

Regardless of approach all development needs to meet the same minimum energy requirements via BASIX compliance

 

[cam04]

So, how do the developers get away with designs that overshadow neighbours,, are built right to the boundary etc that you see occasionally on current affair ?

Zero boundary in urban area is pretty normal these days. Councils are aiming to maximise population density around existing shopping centres and public transport corridors as the population grows. All around here, the old single level shops on the main road are being dropped with multi story accomodation and the shops put back at ground level being built. Same footprint, better yield. That is the cheapest way of accomodating them and mitigating urban sprawl. House blocks in my area are allowed to be 270 m2 odd. That’s a 10m frontage block so they look like chook sheds. I don’t love it, but I can see why they do it, and it would be hypocritical of me to say anything too much because we demolish houses and build multi res in the inner city. One we are nearly finished now. The neighbour’s house is on the right. That’s only basement level. Now we have two storeys on top and a pitched roof. We don’t own or design them, just build them.