Minutes for the Berry Forum Committee Meeting
Meeting on 9 August 2021 at 8.30am at Uniting Church

Present: David Carter (Chair), Stuart Coughlan, David Brawn, Ian Hendry, John Underwood, Gail Paton, Mary Beare, James Robinson, Geoff Armstrong and Heather Macdonald
Apologies: John Cullity, Laurie Watson, and Gary Broadbridge

Minutes of the Committee Meeting held on 12 July 2021 Approved
Actions arising from the Minutes – None

Planning & Development

  • DA Mananga – prohibited function centre approved by Council. Only avenue now for objectors is to appeal to the LEC which is extremely costly.
  • Protecting Berry’s Character – establishing a Reference Group Pending: To be actioned, Stuart to organize first meeting
  • 52 Parker Cr – LEC appeal by developer successful. Ruling stated the DA fits with character of the area and zone objectives of R5. 4 dwellings approved. Subdivision was not requested.
  • Agritourism Proposal – awaiting status update from DPIE. 

Infrastructure & Facilities
> Queen Street crossings – Pending on Council
> Edward St bridge – Should be completed by the end of Nov.

Environment and Sustainability
In the context of the Berry Strategic Plan’s focus on improving the entry to Berry, three areas for improvement were discussed:

  • Land adjacent to the Bowling Club, next to the road. This land is privately owned, is overgrown and is an eyesore on entry to Berry. It was reported that, after a meeting with Gail, David and Peter Spillane last week, Margaret Street is following up on a request that Council take action to require the owner to improve the condition of the land and continue to maintain it. Alternative approaches for the management of the land were discussed but this would require the owner to lease her land for alternative uses. These could be pursued if the Council do not take action.
  • Roundabouts. There is dissatisfaction in the community about the appearance of the roundabouts in Berry, and David explained the attempt by Berry Rotary in April 2021 to gain approval from Council to plant significant trees (one each) in the five roundabouts around Berry. The Council staff rejected the proposal on safety grounds (for the planting of the trees). Rotary may seek to reverse this decision as safety concerns can be managed.
  • Tannery Road. Two members of Berry Rotary have suggested that efforts should be made to improve the appearance of Tannery Road beside the Rotary pathway to the David Berry Hospital. There are a number of dying poplar trees and an untidy selection of other trees. This needs Council approval and hopefully funding.  Rotary may pursue this opportunity.

Council Elections – 4 Dec 2021 – New invitations have been sent to candidates.

Other Business

  • L’Etape road closures. Councilors have requested the race does not proceed.
  • Owners of Arbour are conducting their own noise assessments and gathering data from past assessments to compare before and after bypass and before and after sound barriers. Will defer until results from sound tests are available.
  • AGM date – Oct 14th 2021
  • Review Berry Community Strategic Plan – possible agenda item for AGM

Meeting closed 10:20

Next Committee meeting – 6 September
Next Forum meeting – 14 October