‘Council red tape is killing me’: says Gold Coast Cr Dawn Crichlow about why she refuses to run again

VETERAN Southport councillor Dawn Crichlow has a booming division but it is not enough to keep her around. She says bureaucratic red tape is killing her.

Cr Dawn Crichlow in Olympic Circuit Southport where she has identified as a perfect place for the relocations of nightclubs

VETERAN Southport city councillor Dawn Crichlow fears bureaucratic red tape is killing her, forcing her retirement from the council.

Council sources suggest Mayor Tom Tate wants Cr Crichlow­ to consider another term in the council given Southport is undergoing huge change as a priority development­ area.

But Cr Crichlow­ intends to keep to her plan of calling it quits in March 2016 when councillors will next contest the polls.

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Asked if she would reconsider, Cr Crichlow told the Bulletin: “I’m not doing another­ term, simple as that. The bureaucracy would have had me carried out in a box.

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“It’s a different council to what it used to be. Not only for me, but for the officers. The officers­ used to be able to make a decision.

“Now a request will go through about five different sections of council to send off on it. It’s crazy. It can take about 12 months.”

An artist’s impression of Imperial City in Southport, which is one of the major developments set to go ahead soon.

Cr Crichlow, 72, won the Southport division in 1991 after the then florist shop owner ran on the single ticket of opening up the mall in Nerang St.

In November last year, after council ranks peaked at 3552 full-time employees, Cr Crichlow called for the number of council departments to be slashed from eight to five.

Apart from the swelling bureaucracy­, Cr Crichlow blames the slowness of decision-making on the number of policies introduced by council.

Surfers Paradise-based city councillor Lex Bell, who was mayor during his first stint on the council between 1985 and 2001, agreed with Cr Crichlow.

“I do believe the bureaucracy and policies and red tape within council is much more than it was 10 years ago, and substantially more than 20 years ago,” Cr Bell said.

“It seems that it has become the way of the world. Workplace health and safety regulations and insurance liabilities have had an impact on council.

“There are more varied state and federal laws. It’s not any one person’s fault.”

Cr Bell believes there are no quick remedies available when council is required to “tick every box”.

“I can’t see a way around it, to be honest. The one thing I have noticed on returning to council above all else is there’s now a policy for almost everything,” he said.

Before making decisions on minor issues councillors had to seek advice to ensure the changes would align with council’s overall policy on that area.

“I believe over the years that councillors have contributed a lot to that,” Cr Bell said.