IN ANSWER TO A LETTER TO THE LOCAL PAPER I WROTE
“Do better”. I think can.
The State 30 year plan draws a line around an urban area which includes Gawler, Hewett and part of Concordia. The Adelaide railway service is to be dis-jointed by electrification to Salisbury only. “Change Trains” for Elizabeth and Gawler. The Kudla “greenbelt” has 100 acres of State Government urban development land ready for houses. The Local Government Association Report supports Super Councils and moots additional rates to support them.
Can anyone not see that Gawler’s identity is to be subsumed?
I am against this. Studies of Super Councils show that the sales pitch of lower rates is almost always wrong. Once Councils reach a super size rates usually go up, not down. I like Gawler and the identity that is has. I do not want to be an outlying suburb of Elizabeth. Local government needs to be local.
In the face of pressures to “super size” we need professional leadership with a capacity to envision and insist on continued Gawler local identity co-operating with adjacent councils when real cost savings are identified in advance.
I am fed up with the State Government and adjacent Councils controlling ad-hoc urban sprawl leaving Gawler rate payers to provide services without collecting the rates.
Adding Hewett and the development area of Concordia, together with natural growth will put Gawler quite nicely to the size that independent reports show keeps rates at their lowest. This can mean capped rate growth or lower rates. It also means a critical mass for the retention of a Gawler identity.
o Mrs. Do better. Thanks for asking. I think I can.
Greater Gawler, Lower Rates.