Blame yourselves

I GOT a great laugh out of Cardinia councillors trying to blame VCAT for overturning council decisions (Gazette, 23 July).
Having recently handled a case requiring planning approval I found the final councillor vote was made on hype from council officers, not facts, data and regulation.
Until councillors ignore council officers’ recommendations founded on quicksand, feel-good and fiction and ask the hard questions, VCAT will rightly continue to overturn council decisions.
So instead of blaming the umpire who deals in fact and regulation and precedent, I suggest councillors have a good look at the VCAT findings and learn from them.
As a very public example in another shire, good guy councillors trying to keep a minority on side voted en masse to refuse a McDonald’s despite a 60-page report in fine detail from council officers recommending approval based on all the relevant provisions. Not hard to tell who was going to win at VCAT.
Anyone who reads the full VCAT finding on your headline case “Tribunal backs the gee-gees” (google “Althoff Nominees v Cardinia SC [2014] VCAT 804 (2 July 2014)” will comprehend that a starting point would be to follow the planning scheme, not try to impose beyond its powers.
Cases going to VCAT are not just a pinprick to councillor egos – they are a cost to us ratepayers. Time to lift the game in Victoria’s most indebted shire, councillors!
Brian Hannan,
Emerald.