17 September 2012
The new planning system proposed for NSW in the Green Paper must be supported by reforms in local government, says the Urban Taskforce in their submission to the Government.
“There are many good reforms proposed in the Governments Green Paper but to really get NSW up to number one again will require a rethink of how Local Government is structured, and contributes towards planning for growth,” says Urban Taskforce CEO Chris Johnson. “The attitude of many councils has been very negative towards development to date partly because they only focus on very local issues without seeing the bigger priorities of increased population across regional areas.”
“Many decisions on managing urban growth and large scale infrastructure are shared between State and Local Governments. This has been acknowledged in the Green Paper with Regional Planning Boards and Joint Regional Planning Panels. The Taskforce has recommended that a regional pool of planners should serve these bodies through a Shared Service Centre supporting about 10 councils relating to a region.”
“The Shared Service Centre model has been proposed to the review of Local Government by the Urban Taskforce as a way to make councils more efficient while remaining local.”
“While the Green Paper is supportive of e-planning, there is very little detail on how this will occur. The Urban Taskforce believes the government must commit adequate funds and a specialist implementation team to drive this important change.
“There is clearly a need to balance the proposed new zone of Suburban Character, which is likely to minimise new development, with an Urban Growth zone that defines where new buildings will be supported. The Victorian Government has recently introduced both zones but NSW seems to have missed the importance of encouraging urban growth in infill areas.”
“Ultimately in times of rapid change there must be a process of review and appeal to higher levels of the planning hierarchy to ensure questionable decisions, at a local level, can be reviewed. The Urban Taskforce fully supports the Strategic Compatibility Certificate as a way to help projects that comply with higher level strategies but are disputed at a lower level.
The Urban Taskforce has made a detailed submission to the NSW Government on the Green Paper which can be viewed here.