Toodyay Herald

The Toodyay Shire Council voted 7-1 in July (Cr Ben Bell opposed) to allow Mr Wakeman to keep two horses subject to 10 conditions and four ‘advice notes’.

These include an amended environment and horse management plan, a manure storage area with a waterproof cover and no run-off or leaching into groundwater, regular collection of unused feed, all remnant vegetation on the property to be fenced off from the horses and a recommendation that they be stabled for 12½ hours every day.

“There are other people with horses living all around me and none of them has to do any of this stuff,” Mr Wakeman said.

“How many others have had to submit horse management plans?”

Mr Wakeman said he bought his Laterite Way property in 2011 after being told by a staff member at the shire front counter that he could keep two horses on it.

“She looked up the address on the shire computer and told me two horses,” he said.

“I was living in Perth at the time and was looking around to buy a place for two horses so that my partner and I could ride together instead of one of us having to stay home.”

Mr Wakeman said he bought the property in Coondle’s Sanctuary Park rural residential subdivision but a neighbour objected when he installed white ‘sighter’ wiring inside his boundary to prevent his horses accidentally injuring themselves on an existing wire fence.

“The neighbour complained to the shire, and Planning Officer Hugo de Vos came out to take a look,” Mr Wakeman said.

“He said everything seemed OK and said all I had to do was put in a management plan for my two horses, which I did.”

Approval recommended

SHIRE records show that Mr de Vos recommended that Mr Wakeman’s application for retrospective planning approval at a March 2014 council meeting be granted.

Mr de Vos recommended that the council use its discretion to vary a ‘recommended stocking rate’ to allow two horses to be kept.

“The current process of determining stocking rates is flawed,” he reported to the council.

“The area in question (rural residential) is currently the subject of numerous stocking rate applications.

“There are also instances where horses are already present on properties and thus an issue with compliance.

“It is considered that there is sufficient justification to support this proposal.”

Former shire deputy president Bethan Lloyd, seconded by former Cr Sally Craddock, moved to defer a decision until the council received a horse management plan and an environmental report, and developed a stocking rate policy, but the motion was defeated 3-6.

Former Cr Chris Firns then moved to refuse Mr Wakeman’s application, which was carried 9-0 without discussion or any published reason for rejecting the shire officer’s recommendation.

Mr Wakeman applied to the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) for a review but this was dismissed a year later.

$12,000 fine

He was fined $12,000 by the shire in November 2017 for keeping two horses on his property.

Mr Wakeman lodged a second SAT appeal in February this year but it was dismissed for being four years too late.

He tried again in March to gain shire approval to keep an additional horse but his application was rejected because it had “insufficient information”.

A further attempt in July succeeded – but with conditions that Mr Wakeman says he cannot accept.

“None of this would have happened if I had been given correct information at the shire front counter in 2011,” he said.

“My partner is now gone – partly due to this – and if I sell and look for another place to keep two horses, I will lose at least $100,000 on the sale.

“I’ve still got one horse, Tommy, and you can see how lonely he is by himself.

“I’ve had a gutful of what this shire has done to me and I’ve told them I want my money back or I won’t be paying my rates.”

Toodyay Shire President Brian Rayner said Mr Wakeman’s 2014 application was “properly refused” and he was prosecuted for ignoring a SAT ruling.

“If Mr Wakeman is unhappy with the conditions of (the latest) approval, he may of course seek to have them reviewed in SAT.

“I do not intend to revisit matters from almost five years ago that have been appropriately and thoroughly dealt with as part of a formal review.”

That situation is unlikely to repeat under a new council-approved system that no longer restricts candidates to wards and allows all Toodyay voters to vote for all candidates.

President Rayner’s current two-year term as shire leader ends in October when a new council will choose a president and deputy president for the next two years.

Toodyay’s shire president is paid $40,799 a year, the deputy president $18,445 and seven councillors get $13,364 each.

President Rayner, Deputy President Chitty and Cr Greenway told recent shire public meetings that they won’t resign.

Cr Bill Manning, who was also elected for two more years under the old ward system, has resigned from September 30.

He said all councillors with another two years to serve should also resign and seek re-election in October.

“This will mean that all councillors have been chosen by the entire electorate and ensure greater legitimacy in the eyes of the electorate,” he said.

Cr Manning said his home was for sale and he planned to move away from the shire.

“I expect this could take a considerable period of time and in the meantime I would like to continue to serve Toodyay residents on the council,’ he said.

Deputy President Chitty told a June shire public meeting that she considered resigning to stand for re-election but decided she was lawfully elected in 2017 to serve four years.

Former Cr Craig Brook’s departure last April means there will be at least one new face on the next nine-member council.

Six vacancies also gives voters greater opportunity to elect a new absolute majority of five members for important decisions such as electing a shire president and rates.

Cr Ben Bell, whose two-year term expires in October, says he will run again.

The three other councillors whose four-year terms expire in October – Rob Welburn, Eric Twine and Judy Dow – have not publicly stated their intentions.

None have previously faced a shire election involving all Toodyay voters, and only Crs Bell and Manning have faced a postal ballot which resulted in significantly higher voter turnout in 2017 than in previous years.

The council and shire are currently undergoing a formal State Government inquiry into their operations and affairs.

Investigators from Perth have spent all of this year interviewing and gathering evidence from local residents after WA Local Government Minister David Templeman ordered the formal inquiry last December following a year of official departmental monitoring of the shire.

The investigation’s focus shifted last month to the shire, and CEO Stan Scott told a July public meeting (pictured above) that staff had been busy producing documents and other material for official scrutiny.

It is understood the investigators face political pressure to report heir findings to the Minister before the October shire elections.

This year’s poll will be a postal ballot run by the State Government.

It follows a switch from shire-run ‘in person” voting in previous years and led to a record local voter turn-out of 51 per cent in 2017, compared with only 30.8 per cent in 2015 and 27 per cent six years ago.

The electoral roll for this year’s poll closes at 5pm on Friday August 30.

People who have changed address or don’t know if they are correctly enrolled to vote can check their status online at elections.wa.gov.au.

The State Government will run a two-hour information session for prospective candidates in the council chamber in Fiennes Street (opposite the tennis courts) at 6pm on Thursday August 29.

Topics include an overview of local government, councillors’ roles and responsibilities, and questions.

An eight-day nomination period for candidates opens on Thursday September 5 and closes at 4pm on Thursday September 12.

Australia Post will start mailing out election packages with candidates’ statements, ballot papers, voting instructions and reply-paid envelopes to all enrolled voters on Friday September 20.

The ballot closes at 6pm on Saturday October 19 and results will be declared by a State Government returning officer in the council chamber later that evening.

Unlike in Federal and State elections, voting in local government elections is not compulsory.

THE TOTAL amount of money raised from rates increases by 2.5 per cent to $6.54 million, with a budget surplus of $140,435.

Rises and falls in valuations mean that average rates in the dollar will increase by more than seven per cent for town residential properties while commercial properties will fall by an average of more than 10 per cent.

This is because house prices have fallen and average commercial values have risen.

Rural residential rates on bush ‘lifestyle’ blocks will increase by nearly five per cent while the average rise for broad-acre farms is 0.46 per cent.

Landgate told The Herald that broadacre farm valuations had increased “very slightly” in the eastern part of the shire, while the small farm market had “softened”, resulting in “some value reductions”.

The average for all types of rural farm land was a 0.04 per cent valuation increase.

Cr Welburn said Toodyay commercial values had risen and residential values fallen.
This required some rates in the dollar to rise and others to fall in order to maintain the proportion of shire rates revenue paid by each type of land use (see chart below).

“Rates could be higher but we are trying to keep it at a suitable level,” he said.

“The 2.5 per cent increase is an average across all rates but individual properties will vary – there will be some winners and some losers.

“I think keeping it down to 2.5 per cent is a pretty good effort.”

Cr Manning said he opposed the increase.

“Last year we finished with a substantial surplus,’ he said.

“The council’s cost of running its business has risen by about 1.8 per cent – a 2.5 per cent rates rise is a long way above that.

“We have an ageing population with a significant proportion that relies on their superannuation savings in retirement and interest rates are low – they’re feeling the pinch.

“I know it’s probably small bikkies for some ratepayers but it’s a lot of money for others.
Cr Bell said there was a disconnection between what families in the community were feeling and how the council raised rates.

“The people I represent are doing it tough.

“Property prices are falling but rates keep going up.

“The council should acknowledge that others are struggling and we should reflect that hardship in how we raise rates.

“We asked last time for a pause but it was denied – rates keep going up”.

Cr Bell asked what would happen if mortgage costs kept rising, property prices kept falling and the shire kept charging higher rates?

Shire CEO Stan Scott replied: “If you want to debate the increases, knock yourself out.”

Cr Eric Twine said if the shire wasn’t building a new public swimming pool he’d have no trouble dropping back to a zero or one per cent rate increase.

“The average increase for everyone is about $50,” he said.

“If the local government costs index is 1.8 per cent, you’re not putting anything away for the future if anything goes wrong.”

The rates motion was carried 6-2 with Crs Manning and Bell against.

To meet the criteria for inclusion on the trail the participants were required to have 80 per cent of their product made or produced locally.

Our amazing participants are Esslemont Olive Estate, Julimar Date Garden, Toodyay Bakery, The Meat Hook Toodyay, Uniquely Toodyay, Coorinja Winery and DromeDairy Body and Skin (Toodyay camel farmer Max Bergman pictured above).

There has been a lot of interest and it is expected that the event may grow over time as additional producers become ‘trail ready’.

The trail is a self-drive journey and part of several state-wide trails initiated by Tourism WA.

Along the Toodyay trail, you will meet the seven participating growers and producers of dates, olive oil, wine, breads, pastured meats and condiments to fill your picnic basket along with a camel experience.

Some participants on the trail are by appointment only and only operate seasonally, so please check the details in the guide and always call first in these instances.

The guide is available at trailswa.com.au/trails/experiences/food.wine/ and can be obtained from the Toodyay Visitor Centre and several outlets in Toodyay, as well as further afield in neighbouring shires.

So start spreading the word on #ToodyayFoodAndPicnicTrail.

The trail can be experienced in half a day, a whole day or be enjoyed over a few days, or perhaps take the AvonLink or MerredinLink service and book a local transport service through Lifelong Learning Tours, The Miners Run or Avon Valley Trike Tours.

We encourage visitors to stay a while at one of the many accommodation services in town and surrounding bushland.

Historic Toodyay is a unique country experience an hour’s drive from Perth in the Avon Valley known for its parks, wildflowers, nature reserves, natural bushland and riverside areas.

The trail provides the opportunity to explore this ‘hidden country gem’ right on Perth’s doorstep.

Thanks also to SkyworksWA who took footage of the event and participants for future promotional usage.

If you would like more information about Toodyay (history, exploring the area, where to stay etc.) contact the Toodyay Visitors Centre or check out their website toodyay.com/Home