Issues Paper of the Planning System Review released for comment

8 December 2011

The Government officially released an issues paper informed by the consultation phase undertaken as part of the review of the New South Wales planning system. The most striking feature of the issues paper is the number of feedback questions posed. The Issues Paper seeks feedback on 238 questions covering topic areas ranging from objectives of the new planning system, plan making, development assessment, appeals and implementation.

 

 

Some of the key themes in the issues paper are that the existing planning Act may have passed its use-by-date, given that it was drafted more than 30 years ago and that the Act is overly legalistic and complex. Furthermore, those consulted from industry and the general community agrees that the unnecessary delay in planning processes should be eliminated.

 

The Issues Paper suggests that there was an overwhelming desire to focus on strategic planning as a means of providing certainty on the future for a locality while potentially lessening the tension that often surrounds individual development applications.

 

Apparently one of the most frequent comments made in relation to local environmental plans was that the process of amending a plan takes too long. In particular, it was noted that simple amendments take longer than what was considered appropriate to the nature of the amendment. I am sure we would all agree that minor changes to LEPs, even with a supportive local council seem to take an inordinate amount of time. As a means of dealing with this, it was suggested that there should be prescribed statutory timeframes for the process including the initial stages of requesting a planning proposal.

 

The desire to maintain certain types of development as being state significant and the need for such development to be subject to a different process or determined by a decision maker other than local councils seemed to be a recurrent theme.

 

Financing infrastructure and community facilities was raised as an issue of importance. Feedback is sought on ways to raise and set the appropriate level of levies and if there are alternatives to, or additional funding sources.

Providing a right of review or appeal against a council decision concerning the zoning of a property is a matter that we have consistently raised with Government and it is encouraging to note that this matter has been included in the issues paper.

 

Development as of right has made it into the Issues Paper. This is something that the Urban Taskforce has been advocating for some time. As of right development recognizes that there should be an absolute right to develop a property for a purpose permitted by its zoning and provided that a development proposal meets the appropriate development standards such as height and FSR, that development would be allowed to proceed without further merit assessment. It is interesting to note the alternative view, that controls are targets, not entitlements, has also made it into the Issues Paper.

The concept of a deemed approval has been included in the Issues Paper as an incentive to consent authorities to deal with an application in a quick and timely fashion.

 

The structure of the Act has been considered. That is, should we continue to have one Act that deals with plan making, development assessment, compliance and enforcement etc, or should we have separate pieces of legislation dealing with a specific element of planning.

 

These are but some of the issues raised in the Governments Issues Paper and we have only until the 17 February 2012 to make a further submission. The issues paper may be accessed from here.

Our initial submissions to the Planning Review may be accessed from here  and here.

The Planning Institute of Australia has made an interesting submission on the need for a cultural shift in planning which can be accessed from here.