10th August 2012
The confusion about planning outcomes that have come from the late night meeting of Ku-ring-gai elected councillors overturning staff recommendations, raises concern about the effectiveness of community inputs, says the Urban Taskforce.
Community participation in strategic planning must represent the full community and must take account of future population growth, says Urban Taskforce CEO Chris Johnson. The recent overturning of staff planning advice by half a dozen Ku-ring-gai councillors following presentations from 50 local residents, cant possibly represent the 100,000 residents of Ku-ring-gai.
The Green Paper on planning reform for NSW stresses the importance of involving communities early in strategic planning but if this leads to lowering existing allowable heights then there will be little chance that Sydneys growth can be accommodated.
New South Wales is already producing half the amount of housing per person that Victoria is producing and this is partly due to a planning system that gives little certainty to those wanting to develop new housing stock.
The Urban Taskforce applauds the intent behind the Green Paper to give more certainty to the housing industry, but we are most concerned that the participation of local communities is done in a representative manner and is not taken over by anti-growth action groups.
The proposed Public Participation Charter in the Green Paper must ensure a fair representation of all members of the community and that the future community is considered. It is highly likely that future, younger generations will want to live in different ways – closer to work, shops and in a more urban environment. The participation process must allow a diversity of approaches to housing.
The Ku-ring-gai councillors apparent decision on the spot to overrule carefully formulated planning rules due to the pressure of a small number of protestors raises concerns that this could be the norm in New South Wales. The development industry supports appropriate involvement of communities early in the planning process but we need to have a better model than late night, last minute popular changes as a result of the noisy few.
