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John Woodman grew up in Springvale before making his millions as a Mornington-based property developer.
He directs Watsons Pty Ltd, which describes itself on its website as the “pre-eminent consultant to land developers”.
It claims to produce between 10 and 20 percent of the total lots released to the Victorian market each year.
Mr Woodman, then 60 years old, was profiled in Mornington Peninsula News while running for local council elections in 2012.
He arrived on the peninsula as a project manager “on the way up“ in 1981.
He bought Watsons in the 1990s and acquired several “notches on the belt” including the $650 million Martha Cove development at Mt Martha.
“Mr Woodman has made Watsons the pre-eminent development “one-stop shop” on the peninsula and the southeast with a reputation for shepherding difficult projects through labyrinthine planning laws,” reporter Mike Hast wrote.
The News asked the 60-year-old why he was standing for council.
“The peninsula has been good to me and I want to give something back,” he said.
Asked about a potential conflict of interest if he was elected to the council, Mr Woodman conceded he would be “subjected to some scrutiny”.
