Formal Response to Hobsons Bay City Council

Dear Council,

Thank you for your detailed response on behalf of the Interim CEO, Ms Thompson, and for coordinating input from multiple departments across Council. I very much appreciate your email and the acknowledgement that the zoning and ownership situation surrounding 7 Cullen Court Spotswood is out of the ordinary.

As you noted, it is highly unusual and perhaps unprecedented for privately owned land to be zoned Transport Zone 2 (TRZ2), which by its statutory definition is designed to support state-managed transport infrastructure. Your observation that Ministerial zoning should, unless Crown land, typically be applied to land in State Government ownership is an important and welcome concession.

As you are no doubt aware, I have obtained government gazette evidence showing that my mother’s land was formally discontinued as a government road in 1978 via Executive Council order, and subsequently sold into private hands via lawful title transfer under Instrument H323270. The land has never been reacquired by the State and no Ministerial consent has been issued for the TRZ2 zoning to be applied. In fact, FOI responses from the Department of Transport confirm this.

This raises serious questions about the ultra vires application of the current TRZ2 zoning, which I am currently pursuing through Freedom of Information requests with my dear neighbour The Department of Transport, public documentation, and if necessary, legal challenge.

While I respectfully acknowledge Council’s view that my trailer hire operation, Spotswood Trailers, constitutes a use requiring a planning permit under Clause 36.04-1, I respectfully maintain that:

1. The TRZ2 zoning is legally void due to lack of Ministerial authority and contradicts the parcel’s private title history.
2. My use is lawfully established under Section 6(3) of the Planning and Environment Act 1987 (Vic) — a point I have publicly documented via a legal notice, a compliance register, and photographic metadata of continuous site activation dating back to 18 April 2025.

As such, and with complete respect for your role, I am not in a position to lodge a planning permit application for land that is mis-zoned, has no valid responsible authority, and which is currently the subject of legal and administrative review. I will send you an email in the next day or so where I will respond to Council’s interpretation of Clause 36.04-1 (TRZ2).

I am most pleased to accept your offer of a site visit. Not to initiate a permit process on my mother’s TRZ2-zoned land, but to discuss the zoning anomaly, existing use rights, and the broader strategic implications of this Ministerial oversight. I believe there is value in a face-to-face meeting where Council officers can see the infrastructure and my lawful use of the site in context, as well as observe first-hand the deplorable state of The Department of Transport’s TRZ2-zoned Crown land adjacent.

I will reach out to REDACTED shortly to coordinate a suitable time for this discussion. I will be away for the next 14 days working in Port Melbourne supporting my elderly mother but I will be available after that.

I would like to note for the record that I am not a permit dodger and I have complete respect for Council’s role generally and for your role specifically. As such — in regard to my mother’s main house block which is zoned NRZ5 and where the zoning is legal and not in dispute — I will apply for two (2) planning permits in the near future as we have some new fencing with our dear neighbour at the back (12 Le Fevre St) that we would like to build, and some new fencing at the front of the house block as well.

Unfortunately, this work has been very significantly delayed due to the Department of Transport’s neglect of their adjacent Crown-owned property which is in a terrible state and contains dangerously overhanging branches, a jungled mess of overgrown weeds, and many additional compliance breaches which will no doubt shock Council. Due to the state of neglect of their property — which has significantly impacted my mother’s property and my neighbour’s property at 12 Le Fevre St — I have been unable to engage a surveyor to survey the fence line.

I continue to be shocked and dismayed at The Department of Transport’s complete lack of responsibility and accountability for their Crown-owned land and their lack of care for myself, my neighbour at 12 Le Fevre St, and visitors to the Cullen Court area — not to mention their lack of care for breaching their own policies, procedures, and yes, even laws. Even the Planning Minister doesn’t seem willing to pull them into line, which shocks me even more. The only reason The Department of Transport even communicates with me is because The Ombudsman stepped in at my request and forced them to.

I welcome Council’s openness to engaging with the Department of Transport and Planning regarding a potential zoning amendment, and I trust that should a formal application for rezoning be initiated, Council will lend its support in recognition of the governance vacuum currently affecting my mother’s land.

My goals remain:

1. To bring my mother’s TRZ2-zoned land into legal zoning (i.e. – to have the ultra vires TRZ2 zoning removed by The Department of Transport or The Minister for Planning).
2. To bring the land under the full governance of Hobsons Bay Council as soon as possible — where it belongs.

Whilst some of my actions may be viewed by Council and others as unorthodox, every single action I have taken I believe has been necessary in order to force this issue out into the open and compel my neighbour, The Department of Transport, to fess up, admit their TRZ2 zoning is a mistake, and begin the process of having my mother’s land rezoned.

I have attached the latest FOI requests I sent to The Department of Transport for your interest. I also sent them to the Council’s governance team email address earlier today.