Clarence Valley Council has received a number of calls from local businesses about advertising packages in the self-styled “Clarence Valley Region Development Application” pack.

Adam Cameron, Manager Environment, Development & Strategic Planning reiterated that the pack and associated advertising packages have been developed by a commercial entity.

“We are not here to tell local businesses where they should advertise, we just wanted local businesses to be aware that this Development Application pack is not sponsored or in anyway, endorsed by us.”

“It seems that a printing business based in the Gold Coast is collecting the details of people who lodge Development Applications from publicly available information on websites and then sending them a folder with the local ads.”

“Whilst there is nothing improper with this activity, as we have received questions about our perceived association with it, we wanted to clarify that the pack has nothing to do with Council,” Mr Cameron added.

Councils have a legal obligation to publish names of address of anyone submitting a Development Application which are freely available to any person or organisation on Council websites.