Gully Road, Ceres | Special Rate and Charge Schemes at the City

Project Update - May 2024

At it's ordinary meeting on Tuesday 28 May 2024, Council resolved its intention to declare a Special Rate and Charge scheme to seal Gully Road from numbers 2 - 110 (entrance).

A public notice will be advertised in The Times newspaper on Friday 14 June 2024. A copy of this notice will be sent to you in case you miss it.

We invite property owners included in this Scheme to make a submission or objection.

Submissions / objections open from 14 June 2024 and will close at 5pm Friday 19 July 2024.

Please make your submission or objection in any of the following ways:

The personal information requested on this page is being collected by City of Greater Geelong for the purpose of the Gully Road - SRC 368 or any other directly related purpose. If the personal information is not collected, we may not be able to contact you for further questions or solutions. Your personal information will only be disclosed to carry out a deeper analysis of the data* or as required to do so by law. Our privacy policy is available on our website. If you wish to alter any of the personal information you have supplied to City of Greater Geelong, please contact us by sending an email to privacy@geelongcity.vic.gov.au.

*In order to gain a deeper understanding of the data provided to the City and improve our services to you, we may disclose the information you provide to us to AWS Comprehend and Converlens Pty Ltd which carry out analysis of the data. Your personal information may be disclosed to AWS Comprehend and Converlens Pty Ltd based in Sydney only in relation to the primary purpose of collection. View the following link for AWS Comprehend’s Data Privacy statement and Converlens Pty Ltd Data Privacy statement.

Submissions open 14 June, 2024

Proposed roads to be sealed.

Hello and welcome. This survey is available in languages other than English.

To change the language click the button at the top right corner of this page and select your preferred language.

You can provide your answers in your own language.

If you need an interpreter, please call the Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS National) on 131 450 and ask them to telephone the City of Greater Geelong on 03 5272 5272. Our business hours are 8.30am – 5.00pm.

This interpreting service is free.

Document Library

Construction Plan - Gully Road

PDF (1.49 MB) | Listen

To stay informed on this project

Click on the "+follow" button in the banner

Timeline

Timeline item 1 - complete

Project Commences

Road upgrade was supported during an early engagement in January 2023.
Timeline item 2 - complete

Community Engagement

Benefitting property owners are invited to have their say on the proposed road upgrade via our survey.
Survey opens Monday 12 February 2024.
Timeline item 3 - complete

Community engagement closes

Survey closes 5pm Monday 11 March 2024.
Timeline item 4 - complete

Community Feedback Reviewed
Timeline item 5 - complete

Community informed of next steps

Letters will be sent to all benefitting property owners informing to advise of the next steps.
Timeline item 6 - active

Intention to Declare Submission period open

At its ordinary meeting 28 May 2024. Council resolved their intention to declare the Special Rate and Charge Scheme to seal Gully Road from numbers 2-110 (entrance). A public notice will be published in The Times newspaper on Friday 14 June 2024. A copy of the notice will be sent to all property owners.
The submission / objection period will be open from Friday 14 June 2024 and will close on Friday 19 July 2024.
Timeline item 7 - incomplete

Submission Review
Timeline item 8 - incomplete

Declaration report presented to Council
Timeline item 9 - incomplete

Residents informed of the outcome
Timeline item 10 - incomplete

Contract tender process / Procurement

An advert will be placed to invite tenders from construction companies to perform these works.
A contract will then be drawn up and signed. Residents will be notified when the works will commence.
Timeline item 11 - incomplete

Opportunity to object to VCAT

Benefitting property owners now have the opportunity to object to VCAT (Victorian Civil Administrative Tribunal). Submissions close at 5pm on ?

Process steps explained

As outlined in the 1989 Local Government Act, the following statutory steps will be followed with every Special Rate and Charge Scheme.

The SRC process may be initiated by the City, property owners or residents within the area.

The level of preliminary investigation, survey and consultation will usually depend on the complexity of the issues surrounding the need for the infrastructure.

The City will seek the views of all those property owners who may be the subject of a scheme through an early engagement and make an assessment of the degree of support before proceeding to survey and design.

The Council views consultation as an essential element of all SRC Schemes. This may be done in various ways depending on the circumstances and may include correspondence, brochures, public meetings, personal contact etc.

Councilors and Council Officers are always available to provide information and importantly to receive feedback on property owner’s views and opinions.

The Local Government Act requires the City to carry out certain formal processes:

A report is presented with all details of a proposed SRC scheme and the City may resolve its “Intention to declare a "Special Rate or Charge”.

The scheme is then advertised (Geelong Advertiser) and at the same time a letter of advice sent to all owners.

The process provides for owners to make submissions and objections to Council regarding any aspect of the scheme, which must be lodged within 28 days.

A Submissions Review Panel of Councilors is then convened and submitters may address this Panel.

The Panel having considered all submissions and information makes a recommendation to the City.

A detailed report is then placed before the Council which includes the Submissions Review Panel recommendation.

If the Council resolve to proceed, the SRC Scheme is declared. The Council may at this stage also modify or abandon the scheme.

Given a resolution to declare the SRC Scheme, a notice is issued to each owner liable to pay the charge. This indicates the estimated amount of the rate or charge and advises of rights to seek a review via the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT). An application to VCAT must be lodged within 30 days of the issue of the Council notice.

On application, VCAT will conduct a hearing and advise all parties of its decision.

Council will send a payment option form and, as instructed by the Local Government Act 2020 (Amendment ), start invoicing within 12 months of the scheme being declared.

When works are completed, the costs are finalised and an adjustment made to each owners costs to reflect the actual, final costs. Where the finalised actual costs are lower than the amount paid a refund will be provided.

On completion of works, a final report will be provided to Council to advise of the final costings. Residents will be advised of any cost adjustments at this time. Please note that in line with the Local Government Act 1989, should the project go over budget, residents will never be charged more that a further 10% or the original cost.

Contact Us

Have questions or want to learn more about a project, contact us below:

Name	Alison McGorman, SRC Program Manager
Phone	03 5272 4608
Email	engineeringplans@geelongcity.vic.gov.au
Website	yoursay.geelongaustralia.com.au/
In writing	PO Box 104 Geelong Vic 3220