The back down on metropolitan council amalgamations by the NSW Government needs a fall back solution to ensure good governance, says the Urban Taskforce.
“The Urban Taskforce originally proposed a council reform that had a district structure for planning decisions and left local matters to local councils,” says Urban Taskforce CEO, Chris Johnson. “The NSW Government’s back down on their version of council reform means the scale of thinking about growth will now be local not regional. The value of larger councils was to move management and planning to a less local and more regional level but it seems the government’s processes were not legally tight and appeals have delayed the process leading to uncertainty for all.”
“Many roles for councils are local and others are more at a regional level. The Urban Taskforce approach was to leave local issues with existing councils and to move regional issues into a shared service centre approach between councils. This would have led to six regional centres of excellence for planning that aligned with the six districts established under the Greater Sydney Commission.”
“The Urban Taskforce believes that the NSW Government must now play a much stronger role in driving housing supply with councils only focussing on local issues.”
“The Urban Taskforce is concerned that today’s back down indicates a less reformist approach by the NSW Government than its previous position. This more cautious approach a year and a half before the next state election could put many important initiatives on hold.”
“The proposed reforms for council planning with independent panels should definitely be implemented to balance the amalgamation back down.
“The Urban Taskforce is keen to work with the NSW Government on ways to improve council performance particularly in the area of planning.”
