"Chookie" wrote in message
...
In article
,
Terryc wrote:

In NSW, it was proposed to make certain features compulsory in new
homes, but we had all the developes crying crocodile tears and sayin
that will make it too expensive for first home buyer, oh woe is them
(US).

So they removed the requirments. I believe water tanks were one.

Well, they brought in BASIX, but with a very long lead time, and made it
easy
to pass just by installing efficient appliances instead of requiring
better
building design.

BASIX for renovations/extensions came in on 1 October 2006. We got our DA
in
a few days prior -- and our DA includes giving our house better passive
solar
design and rainwater tanks. The architect said that BASIX for us would
just
mean another set of consultancy fees!

I think council should pass a bylaw that all new bluiding must have a
minium of 500gal tank even connected to town water. Up our way
(Central Victoria) any changes to the property the first thing council
ask is any trees to be removed but nothing about water saving.

Thought I heard something this morning about how in VIC it is compulsory
for
new houses to have either rainwater tanks or solar hot water?

Tree removal is covering their arse as people have an absolute paranoia
about falling tree limbs. I guess that I am 1,00,000 more times likely
to die on the roads than by a tree falling on me.

There's also trees falling onto cars/houses, and cleaning up after storms.
Personally, that's a risk I want to live with. There are parts of
Baulkham
Hills Shire that give you the willies -- bricks and rooftops to the
horizon,
and NO ROOM for trees. Betcha those areas will have higher suicide rates.

I don't get it. Are the council stopping people from removing trees,
because people are paranoid about them, and removing them willy nilly? Or
are the councils forcing people to remove them because the council's
paranoid?

Here in Victoria, it's very, very hard to get permission to remove trees.
I've known of a few people who really wanted to remove just a couple, out of
places that were in their way, or would shade the house too much. But they
weren't allowed. I think that's gone too far.

Jen