CONSERVATION PLANNING CONTEXT

3. A local focus for conservation action

It is not the purpose of this review to discuss State or metropolitan planning agendas in introducing conservation controls, but rather to point to lessons learnt from past mistakes and successes which can help conservation planning in the City of Frankston at local level, within the current frameworks. The following listing of positive elements relate to philosophy, process and detail:

• the need for a committed Council and informed local Press;
• the need for public participation and involvement in the process from an early stage, (cf. City of Kew's early identification of significant precincts and the establishment of working groups in these precincts to discuss controls and protection methods).
• the need for a professional, comprehensive conservation study to form the basis and justification for policy and elicit the support of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (should it be required).
• in developing controls, assume most people will do "the right thing" if well informed. This also points to need for an on-going education and promotion program.
• focus on positive mechanisms not the negative aspects of control.
• reduce permit requirements except for exceptional sites or areas.
• develop criteria or standards and delegate non-controversial controls to Council officers.
• keep controls as simple as possible for both residents and Council officers. Get expert advice on interpretation for residents and officers if beyond Council's technical expertise.
• try to develop under the relevant local control framework. Do not automatically adopt planning controls which were developed for coherent areas with uniform Victorian terrace houses and streetscapes.
• reinforce the intent of any controls by non-statutory mechanisms, (refer to Section 1.4).

Perhaps the most important issue for Council to determine following the assessment of the City's conservation significance is its priorities in terms of what it wants to protect the most. Sometimes trying to achieve everything fails to achieve anything and there is a strong need to temper conservation purism with a positive realism.

Tree Preservation Order To preserve Ku-ring-gai's beauty and amenity a Tree Preservation Order applies to the whole of the Municipality. This prohibits the ring-barking, cutting down, topping, lopping, removing, injuring or willful destruction of any tree having a height greater than 12 feet (3.7m) or a branch spread exceeding 10ft (3m) in diameter, also the heaping of rocks, soil or other material against the trunk of a tree or altering the level of soil on which a tree is growing, except with the written consent of the council. Also no person shall allow vines or creepers likely to damage or kill, to grow on a living tree, and shall remove such vines or creepers and mistletoe from trees on his property. Contravention of the Order can incur a penalty of up to $200 The co-operation of every citizen is sought