Dear Paul,

I received in the mail notification regarding the 2011 Manningham multicultural festival. On further inquiry I discovered that 3,224 residential addresses were notified of this 6 hour event. Which brings me to ask:

Why were changes made to the original advice on the DD08 not communicated to residents or indicated in the published articles during the 8 week exhibition period that followed?

Why were the 29,945 residents, who trusted councils undertaking that approval for 3 storey apartment development would require a minimum land area of 2000m2, and chose not to object or make a submissions as it was regarded as fair by many residents at the time, excluded from receiving further information or having the opportunity to make submissions on the far reaching changes to their particular zone before they were presented to the C50 panel?  

Why was notification of the information sessions, regarding the recently proposed changes foreshadowed in the Manningham Draft Strategy, sent to such a limited number of residents?.

Is it satisfactory that the 90% of residents who attended Wednesday 26th October meeting would not have known of the information sessions had it not been for flyers distributed by RAIDID, rather than residents relying on standard communication strategies currently used by the Council?

Changes to significant issues like planning will effect residents for years and yet the Council thinks that direct notification to the residents of a 6 hour event is more worthy.