29 May 2013
A report that has had no public or stakeholder input is being used by the Federal Government under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act to call in development projects that can be viewed from Old Government House in Parramatta, says the Urban Taskforce.
This Federal Government report sets the precedent for intervention by the Commonwealth in the approval of any new development within 500 metres of a heritage building and for views from a heritage item to be a determining factor in the approval of developments within one kilometre of the item, says Urban Taskforce CEO, Chris Johnson.
Clearly our heritage is important in Australia but we cant let it stop the development of our future. The Old Government House in Parramatta already has a large buffer zone of parkland around it and that should be the extent of the non-development impact zone. To now use the concepts of views from a heritage item for up to a kilometre is overkill.
In the case of Old Government House in Parramatta the Governor would have wanted to see the new town of Parramatta develop into a city and not prefer views of the bush to dominate. To say that the views of 1800 should be preserved, misunderstands the vision of early governors to develop the colony with roads and buildings that improve the landscape. Governor Macquarie was a supporter of the Scottish Enlightenment philosophy that saw the need to bring development improvements to an inhospitable landscape.
The Urban Taskforce has members with projects that are being called in as controlled actions under the EPBC legislation because they are in the view lines from Old Government House. This is adding uncertainty to developments and excessive delays as federal bureaucrats add another layer to our already complex planning system.
We acknowledge that Old Government House in Parramatta is on the World Heritage list as one of 11 convict sites in Australia but it has a massive parkland buffer zone around it. Another heritage building that is part of the World Heritage listing for convict sites is Hyde Park Barracks in Macquarie Street in Sydney. If a highly sensitive zone up to 500 metres was defined around this building then all the city high rise buildings down to George Street would be impacted.
The Urban Taskforce is most concerned at the trend to make views from heritage items criteria for the assessment on new developments up to one kilometre away. The development industry is already battling red tape and green tape to get planning approvals for new developments and we dont need heritage tape to add to the already complex planning system.