02 July 2013
The success of the White Paper on planning reform in NSW will rely on a major change of culture by the community, developers and planners, says the Urban Taskforce
“NSW currently has a very negative attitude towards development and planning and this must change if the state is going to be number one again,” says Urban Taskforce CEO, Chris Johnson. Over the past 10 years NSW has slipped behind most of the other states on per capita construction spending and this has been mainly due to an anti-growth culture that has demonised developers.”
“In effect the community is shooting the messenger as developers are only delivering much needed housing and places to work for our future communities and our growing population. We need a mature debate and an awareness raising exercise by the State Government about the need for a variety of housing types that differing demographic groups are wanting to live in.”
“Without a cultural change in support of development by all in the community, the worthwhile reforms in the White Paper will be frustrated and NSW will continue to under perform. Culture change will require state leadership now rather than putting this off until the sub-regional planning phase and delegating responsibility to councils.”
“The culture and structure of councils also needs to change so that they think and operate on a more regional basis. The opportunity to blend the planning reforms with local government reforms must not be missed. The Urban Taskforce has proposed that regional Centres of Excellence for Planning be established as Shared Service Centres between a number of councils to generate cultural change with planning staff.”
“An Urban Growth Zone for housing based on the recently adopted Residential Growth Zone in Victoria will give clarity to communities and developers about where new developments will be encouraged.”
“The Urban Taskforce fully supports the Code Assessable approach but we are concerned that codes need to ensure that developments will be economically viable.”
“The Strategic Compatibility Certificates should be a permanent part of the planning system as they allow land owners to propose developments that fit planning policies where micro controls in local plans may not be flexible enough for the changing approaches to living, working or shopping. The planning system must support innovation rather than frustrate it.
“The Urban Taskforce supports the general move to distribute the costs of infrastructure across a broader base but is concerned that the costs do not destroy the feasibility of projects by pricing them above what the market can pay.”
INTERIM PLANNING STRATEGY
“As the new planning system will take at least two years to fully implement, the Urban Taskforce is concerned that a construction vacuum could occur while the planning system is focusing on the change process. This is even more critical as the large number of Part 3A projects from the previous government is reaching the end of its supply chain and is unlikely to be replaced.”
“A two year interim planning strategy is needed to encourage new housing projects through an extended program of Urban Activation Precincts being designated and expressions of interest for project sites is being called for.
DETAILED SUBMISSION
The Urban Taskforce detailed submission on the Planning White paper can be found here:
