Tonight’s council meeting looks at a new subdivision in Spring Farm, a detailed response to two major plans and strategies for our area, a childcare facility with specialties in disabilities, some new park names for Gregory Hills and of course a notice of motion looking at rezoning areas bordering Smeaton Grange and residential areas.

It’s hard to tell which way this meeting will go but it is likely to give us a good idea as to whether the councillors will find a way to work together or continue to battle along party lines. 

​So, let's get down to business. 

Currans Hill residents, especially those living alongside Smeaton Grange, and anyone looking to build on the residential area planned for the southern end of Turner Rd may be very interested in the coming Council meeting.

Cr Ashleigh Cagney has put forward a Notice of Motion calling on the Council to examine rezoning those areas in Smeaton Grange closest to Currans Hill and the proposed residential development along Turner Rd.

The Notice of Motion follows widespread opposition to a resource recovery facility proposed 52 Anderson Rd, Smeaton Grange, which borders Currans Hill.
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Cr Cagney explained the reason for the Notice of Motion when I emailed her late Friday. 

COMMENT: As I noted in my report on the most recent meeting of Camden Council, I came away with a feeling that the Liberal bloc of councillors were opposed to live-streaming council meetings.

I also said in the report that I hoped this impression was just a misreading on my part.

We already know Cr Rob Mills is likely to vote against the idea of live-streaming meetings. While I don’t agree with his reasoning around social media, I do respect that he has been completely upfront about his intentions.

But what this means is the Liberal councillors will have the decisive vote on whether or not Camden residents will be able to tune into Council meetings online.
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The fact that I walked away from that meeting feeling that they would oppose live-streaming has been niggling at me all week, so I went back to my notes to work out why I felt this way. 

The Notice of Motion for the live-streaming of Council meetings was the highlight and most debated part of this meeting, although there was some discussion around the median works between Elizabeth and Edward Streets in Camden that didn't go quite the way we expected.
 
It looks like the live-streaming of Council meetings will be decided in the future by the Liberal vote after Cr Rob Mills made it very clear both during the meeting and afterwards that he was opposed to the idea. For him, it was about how live-streaming meetings could lead to bullying on social media, something he feels he has experienced since being elected.
 
He also seemed to be annoyed that the Notice of Motion had been introduced without warning by Cr Paul Farrow.
 
Regardless of Cr Mills position, I came away from the meeting feeling that the Liberal councillors, despite repeatedly saying they agreed with the idea in principle, were in fact searching for a reason to decline the proposal.

I hope this is not the case and that I have misread their comments but that was certainly the impression I had when I left the meeting. Now, let's get down to the detail.

There are only five orders of business at the next Council meeting but two items may prompt debate and interest.

The first is the proposal by Cr Paul Farrow to live stream Council meetings on Camden Council's website.

The second is for an upgrade of Argyle Street, Camden, which will see eight new jacaranda trees planted along the centre of the street.

There has been some talk that the Liberal councillors would oppose the proposal to live stream Council meetings. I am, perhaps optimistically, inclined to believe that all sides of the chamber will support the proposal but perhaps with amendments. I believe that the Liberals are confident in the decisions they make in the Council Chambers and in the reasons they give for them and so would not be concerned by having these debates made publicly available. At the same time, there is likely to be political fallout if they try to block the proposal as it would suggest they have something to hide.

As to the Argyle Street improvements, my feeling is there will be some commentary around past changes to the street and the character of Camden that will probably delay what is likely to be a unanimous acceptance of the upgrade.
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Amongst all the smoke and mirrors is a very important report from the New South Wales government that proposes changes to the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979. 

Cr Paul Farrow has put forward a notice of motion for Camden Council to stream its meetings live and then store them on the website for later viewing. Tell us if you support this in the poll below.

As expected, this was a very straightforward and short meeting — finishing after just 19 minutes. The most time was spent on the Maccaria Art Gallery restructure, which included a little unnecessary niggle from Cr Eva Campbell. 

For some strange reason the back row of the audience was populated by young, loud men in suits. It looked a bit like a gaggle of early career real estate agents because the suits didn't look like the custom designed threads owned by stockbrokers. I'm not sure what their interest might be in a meeting that was always going to go smoothly.

Cr Paul Farrow was an apology for this meeting. There we no public addresses or mayoral minute.

So let's get to the 19 minutes of joy.