New rules for development control plans

19 April 2010

The policy paper on Promoting Economic Growth and Competition through the Planning System released by the NSW Government today also foreshadows changes to the way that local council development control plans are applied.

A ministerial direction is to be issued requiring SEPP 1 principles (which allow for the flexible application of development standards) to be extended to development control plans. Local councils have always had an obligation to apply development standards in state government approved local environmental plans flexibly. But, in recent years, many haven’t been taking the same approach to their own development control plans . This has led to a blind adherence to rules, even when a situation cried out for a more common sense approach.

The decision by the government to instruct councils to take a flexible approach to development control plans, in-line with their approach to local environmental plans, is welcome. We’ve sought a more flexible approach to development control plans for some time. However, further reform is required to ensure that council development controls plans do not prevent developments expressly envisaged by state and regional planning policies. There is too much duplication and overlap between federal, state and local council requirements.

The scope of matters that can be dealt with by development controls plans should be limited, and developments that meet the standards already set by the state government should be entitled to approval, even if they don’t satisfy prescriptive provisions in a council policy.

More information is available here.