We built our dream home here at huge expense and were quite happy.

Two years after we moved here, rumblings started about putting a livestock sales centre out here.

I, along with plenty of other residents, got together to voice our displeasure at the proposal.

I attended numerous community meetings and also one very interesting one 18 months ago at the Mining Exchange, where I spoke against the proposal.

At that meeting with his wife was City of Ballarat councillor John Philips, who also spoke out against the proposal.

Fast forward 18 months and now he supports the idea.

It has also surfaced that there may be an abattoir on the drawing board as part of the complex, hence the need to rezone the land.

It seems the further you delve into this proposal the murkier and on the nose it all seems to be.

I feel that the Ballarat City councillors need to remember that they were elected to represent the ratepayers and not big developers.

We, as ratepayers, are the councillors' employers and, as such, must be listened to and heard.