Bega council plays politics with Woolworths

When the local elected representatives in the southeast NSW shire of Bega Valley knocked back a development application from a major corporate supermarket they demonstrated conclusively that they fitted the image of local governance: unprofessional, part time and out of touch.

A development application for a supermarket in the small seaside fishing village of Bermagui was recommended by the Bega Council executive after it did its due diligence and determined the development did not breach any regulations.

The application, made by Woolworths to build a supermarket and liquor shop in a village that probably cannot sustain such things, first appeared in early 2012 after the corporation bought a nice piece of land opposite the beach and park at the end of the main street.

Bermagui has only one side to its main street: the shops and hotel all face north, and all have marvelous views across the glistening ocean and white sand beaches to Gulaga, a mountain behind the village of Tilba Tilba. The setting is idyllic and includes a boat harbour not far west of the main street.

The Woolworths plan was received ambivalently in the village by locals and tourists: Bermagui's economy, like a lot of coastal towns, relies to a large extent on seasonal tourism since various governments killed off fishing and forestry.

A lot of elderly locals were said to approve of the development because it would mean they no longer needed to travel to Bega or Narooma for supplies. Bermagui is services by a mid sized independent grocer, a local bottle shop, a butcher and a number of other small businesses supplying fresh local produce.

The perception is though that the cost of getting to Narooma or Bega to shop at Coles or Woolworths outweighs the cost of buying local. It is a perception, not a reality.

On the other hand, long time residents - many going back generations - flatly refused to accept the idea. For them, the supermarket meant the death of their village, its atmosphere, its sense of isolation and its very real sense of place. there were plenty of theme park towns around - leave Bermagui alone was their message.

Two things emerged to make this issue important.

The first was the idea that there was a need or desire for such a development. The second was the incompetence and demonstrated lack of communication that had been publicly displayed between the local council, its elected representatives and its residents.

Setting aside the first - given that large organisations tend to make corporate decisions based on nothing more than profit - the second issue demonstrated clearly why resident vigilance was critical and why NSW councils find themselves before the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) or find themselves being sacked by the state government.

The council meeting on Wednesday January 16 was attended by more than 60 Bermagui residents. They had travelled the 61.8 kilometres (50 minutes drive) for the 2pm meeting to register their disapproval of both the development and the process.

What was perplexing about the fact that the elected councillors went against the recommendation of their council executive in agreeing to defer the application, was that they had not done some of the most elementary research necessary to see if the plan fitted the space for which it was proposed.

As if it were revelatory, mayor Bill Taylor said councillors needed to go to Bermagui to visit the actual site of the development, speak with residents, get more feedback and conduct a 'thorough analysis of the proposal'.

Unless this was political rhetoric for the sake of political rhetoric one must ask what in the name of reason were the pages of information about the application attached to the council business paper?

And, given the strong differences of opinion being cast about for more than a year why did the elected representatives not undertake the most basic research much earlier: an elementary observation of the village and the site?

There were a number of ironies attached to the issue not least of which was that Bega Council was heavily weighted to the southern end of the shire around Merimbula and Bega. Bermagui has not had a representative on council for some years. The councillor nearby is Tony Allen in Cobargo, 15 kilometres west of Bermagui.

Mayor Taylor said issues increased in intensity when it got closer to decision time. In other words, when more people find out about an application more people get involved if they don't like it.

This has not been the case in Bermagui. It has been clear for more than a year that there was roughly equal support and opposition.

The issue points to the basic problem for local governance when major infrastructure and commercial developments are involved.

Full time council executives make recommendations to their elected representatives based on available technical, economic, and legal information. They attempt to include the relevance of social impact.

Councillors, however, when confronted by even the most passive activism, as was the case in the Bega council chamber last week, get politically edgy.

The communication gap between residents, council executive and elected representative is enormous. The problem is deep-seated and goes to the part-time nature of local governance.

It is the polar opposite of the corporate governance model in which the executive makes decisions for its board to ratify. In this model shareholders usually accept decisions because they are intent on maximising profit.

The injection of resident action into the council model is the difference between democracy and corporatism but it is an unfortunate situation when elected representatives fail to grasp the difference until it is almost too late.