BRIMBANK residents are furious that the council spent more than $14,000 on public consultations for the proposed civic centre, calling it a waste of ratepayers’ money.

Residents and community groups have been outraged since the announcement of the $30 million plan, which came to light earlier this year.

The public outcry reached fever pitch when residents’ beloved Errington Reserve was announced as the preferred location for the offices.

Despite obvious opposition to the plan, the council commissioned a private consulting company to gauge public views on the site, including where to erect it.

But the plans were shelved by council administrator Bill Scales following the embarrassing dismissal of the council in September.

Last week, it was revealed the council spent a total of $14,400 on consultations for the now defunct plan, infuriating residents who say they have squandered the money.

Brimbank activist Gwyneth Goedicki said the consultations were a scandalous waste of ratepayers’ money.

“It’s absolutely reckless,” Ms Goedicki said.

“I feel very angry about the amount of money they wasted on this.

“The whole process has been very badly managed.”

Sunshine resident Sean Spencer said it was outrageous to spend thousands of dollars on consultations.

“They didn’t need to hire a private company to run consultations,” Mr Spencer said.

“All they had to do was listen to what the community were saying all along.

“We never wanted a civic centre and they knew that all along.

“They didn’t have to spend $14,000 to find that out.

“All they had to do was ask anyone in Brimbank and they would have got their answer,” Mr Spencer said.

The comments come as more than 1000 people have urged the council not to build a civic centre on Errington Reserve.

A petition with 1236 signatures was presented to the council last Tuesday, appealing for the Errington plan to be scrapped.

Mr Spencer said the petition proved Brimbank residents were a force to be reckoned with and that they would not allow a civic centre to be built.

“Now that the council has been sacked, I’m sure the civic centre won’t go ahead.

“But this petition should be a wake up call for the council.

“They should have listened to the community from the very beginning.”

Brimbank CEO Nick Foa defended the council’s decision to splash out for the consultations, claiming they were worth the money.

“It was a decision we took so we could get as much input from these forums as possible,” Mr Foa said.

“We regard (the sessions) to be a critical aspect of council’s consultation process.”