Station move hastens slowly

• Bridport Fire Station … not yet on the move.

By Taylor Clyne ,
October 20, 2021

Eight months after a unanimous decision by Dorset Council to support an emergency rezoning of land at the rear of Ezzy Park to allow for the relocation of the Bridport Fire Station the Council has again unanimously voted to start the process anew.

The original decision in February this year was to correct a clerical error made in a zoning translation in 2013.

It was only picked up after the Tasmanian Fire Service approached the Council about the potential site to accommodate the fire station, which is outgrowing its Main Street site.

The planning scheme’s emergency provisions were decided upon to speed up the process of making a strip of residential zone land the same as the remainder of the open space zoned Ezzy Park land.

However, the State election intervened and the new Minister for Local Government Roger Jaensch, did not see things the same way as the Council.

Director of Community and Development Rohan Willis told the Council the minister had suggested a more conventional path to complete the rezoning.

“The view was that there was potentially a public interest in the zoning change.”

The ruling means the proposed change must be publicly advertised and time allowed for submissions to be considered.

Mr Willis said the process could take another three or four months to complete before a development application for a new fire station might be considered. 

The Council heard there was also potential for a paramedics base to be co-located with the fire station. 

The ministerial over-ruling unleashed a tirade about the decision.

Councillor Leonie Stein said it was hard to get her head around. 

“It just makes you wonder how a minister can justify his reasons for doing what he’s doing for something that is so vital for the community.”

Mr Willis was disappointed at the ruling.

“In hindsight it might have been better to commence this process if we’d known the minister was going to take the position that he did.

“There’s an instrument under the planning act, an urgent amendment that allows for quick decisive decision to fix errors. It was there in plain daylight and he couldn’t see the wood for the trees and sided with the bureaucrats.”

Mayor Greg Howard said he was astounded.

“You’ve got to say it’s an appalling decision by the minister to be honest very disappointing. 

“Unfortunately we don’t have enough good ministers to make the tough decisions and that’s what it needed and for him to reject it it’s really hard to believe.”

The Council approved to start the recommended rezoning process.