Perth Voice Interactive

A RULE to force Vincent councillors to register all contact with commercial property developers looks set to take effect by July.

Vincent mayor John Carey says “anyone who’s acting with honesty and integrity” has nothing to fear from the plan, which will mean all meetings with developers where applications or planning policies are discussed must be logged on a publicly available online register, including a rundown of what was spoken about.

With high-density developments ripping through the area lately causing community consternation, it’s not unusual to hear residents spread rumours of shadowy meetings and secret handshakes.

Mr Carey says his meetings are above board, and inform applicants of the rules and what the council wants, but says they should all be noted.

“Councillors and mayors shouldn’t be having coffees down at the shops with a local developer about a particular application,” he says. “Even if there’s nothing dubious happening, what if the developer walks away from that and says the councillor made a claim or commitment. Who else is there to indicate that this is not the case?”

He says “it is not a problem in the current Vincent council, because my approach is that if I do meet with a developer it’s here at the city, and the director of planning will always attend and it’s registered in my diary.

“So I’m always doing that… but this takes it online and makes it a step more accessible.”

Under the new rule, if councillors fail to declare a meeting they face referral to the local government standards panel which has the power to censure councillors, order apologies or force training.

by DAVID BELL