Fairfax Media has obtained a copy of a written offer to a resident of a discounted apartment and first choice of units in the proposed development at Ruckers Hill, an area of Northcote valued for views to the city. The offer in August last year from Kevin Li and Steven Zheng on behalf of Yune Development, was ''conditional on your withdrawal of objection with VCAT [the appeals tribunal] to our proposal''. Another objector, resident Kevin Warwick, said Yune Development offered to relocate him to a new home of equal value to his own anywhere in Melbourne in return for him withdrawing his objection. He rejected the offer, which he said cheapened community concerns about the impact of poorly conceived apartment projects on the neighbourhood and wider Northcote area. Mr Warwick said residents felt ''intimidated'' by the developer, which, he said, was ''trying to buy us off''. Leading planning barrister Michelle Quigley said that while it was reasonable for developers to compensate neighbours for the direct impacts of their projects - helping rebuild a shared fence for instance - financial inducements intended to prevent people acting on their legal right to object ''just don't pass the smell test''. ''I just think it's wrong. I would never advise a client to participate in such an arrangement.''

She said she was aware the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal would want to know of such offers and may want to investigate. Some of Victoria's most senior planning and criminal barristers said such inducements to residents were a ''grey'' legal area and probably untested in Victoria. On Friday night, John Teng, the project director for Campbell Grove, denied inducements had been offered to residents. He refused to discuss the matter further and asked for written questions, which Fairfax Media provided. Mr Teng did not respond to the questions. Darebin Council, the subject of a recent Ombudsman's investigation over alleged dodgy planning, bribe offers and misuse of council resources and grants, appears to have taken no action over a similar inducement offer to one of its senior planners. Fairfax Media has established a council officer last year reported a bribe offer - a heavily discounted apartment in return for support for the Campbell Grove scheme - as required under the council's code of conduct protocols. The offer was rejected.

Well-placed sources have also confirmed that staff directly informed Darebin chief executive Rasiah Dev of the offer. On Friday, however, a spokeswoman for Mr Dev said he had no knowledge of any offers of inducement to his staff over Campbell Grove. The bribe offer to the Darebin staff member was allegedly made by a prominent property figure in Melbourne's north with peripheral involvement in the Campbell Grove scheme. Yune's apartment scheme was eventually refused by Darebin Council and rejected at VCAT. Yune has since scaled back its project, and is now proposing a mix of townhouses and apartments. The revamped scheme is now the subject of negotiations involving Yune, the council and residents. One council insider pointed to the Campbell Grove case as typical of the culture that had developed in recent years around planning at Darebin. ''The expectation by developers that they get away with trying to buy planning approvals in Darebin is what the Ombudsman should have dealt with,'' said the senior council figure, who is disappointed by the lack of action after the Ombudsman probe.

Despite a year-long investigation of a litany of claims about conflicts of interest and inappropriate interference in planning at Darebin, both Ombudsman George Brouwer and the Napthine government chose not to table the findings from the Ombudsman inquiry or intervene at the troubled council. Instead, as Fairfax Media reported on Saturday, Local Government Minister Jeanette Powell has written to the council requesting improvements to council transparency and accountability.