27 October 2010
The NSW Coalition should not bow to Greens pressure for the immediate abolition of Part 3A, according to the Urban Taskforce. The NSW Greens are introducing a private members bill to Parliament to remove Part 3A from the states planning laws.
The Taskforces chief executive, Aaron Gadiel, said that any major change to the way that state or regionally significant projects were managed under planning laws should be dealt with as part of a comprehensive review.
Part 3A was introduced in 2005, but when it was introduced, other well established special provisions for state and regionally significant development were repealed.
You cant remove Part 3A without introducing alternative arrangements for state and regionally significant development.
Part 3A introduced a new terminology, and more efficient processes, but the NSW planning system has always recognised the need for the state government to take responsibility for state or regional projects.
Its inconceivable that any government could wash its hands of projects important to either the state, or a region within it.
Mr Gadiel said under the current law, residential, commercial or retail projects with a capital investment of more than $100 million were held to be state or regionally significant.
Despite mischievous Greens suggestions, the current laws do not declare these projects to be ˜critical, Mr Gadiel said.
The designation of ˜critical relates to important public infrastructure.
Mr Gadiel said that Part 3A, and the long-standing provisions that it replaced in 2005, always covered regionally significant development.
Major residential development, important office buildings and new retail precincts are vital for the health of regions across NSW and Sydney itself, he said.
A $100 million residential, retail or commercial project may not be vital for the states economy, but it still may be important to the future of a region.
The Coalition should not abandon regionally significant development if it wants to attract investment to the state.
If the Coalition is intent on reappealing Part 3A, its important that it clearly spells out and consults widely on its alternative arrangements.
We cant see how the Coalition could commit to the immediate repeal of Part 3A without driving investment, jobs and economic activity away from NSW.
The Urban Taskforce is a property development industry group, representing Australias most prominent property developers and equity financiers.
An extract from the pre-Part 3A state and regionally significant provisions is set out in the PDF available below.
