Local backlash as new planning laws tabled

BY MICK ROBERTS

A coalition of organisations with an interest in local planning has called on the NSW Parliament to block the proposed overhaul of state planning laws.
Reforms to the planning system, under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment Bill 2008, were passed through the lower house at 2am last Wednesday, and will now have to be approved by the upper house before they become law.
Groups including the Local Government and Shires Associations, The National Trust, the Environmental Defenders Office, Local Government Managers Australia, The Total Environment Centre, The Development and Environmental Professionals’ Association, and the Nature Conservation Council of NSW, have all signed and released a joint communiqué in objection to the changes.
Members of parliament have also received more than 4000 emails from concerned residents ‘ coordinated by the Keep it Local Campaign.
It is being described as one of the largest ever campaigns to hit the inboxes of parliamentarians.
Planning Minister Frank Sartor’s proposal was also criticised by a parliamentary committee who raised serious concerns over a number of the changes.
The committee, which included four Labor politicians, highlighted 20 separate problems with the new bills. They concluded that Mr Sartor and the proposed planning commissions will be given “oppressive” powers, while compromising people’s rights and liberties, and remove procedural fairness.
Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore has strongly opposed most of Mr Sartor’s Bill, labelling it “anti-democratic”.
“These planning law changes are confused and complicated, with diminished capacity for open and transparent decision-making, and subjective and inadequately defined rules,” Cr Moore said. “The claim that the legislation will help ‘mums and dads’ applicants is a farce, achieved by ignoring the ‘mums and dad’ who are neighbours affected by developments next door.”
Cr Moore said that the proposed increased use of private certifiers could also threaten areas of heritage, including Paddington, Glebe, Chippendale and Surry Hills.
“The rules are not tailored to distinctive and heritage inner-city condition, with consultation entirely removed and replaced with a courtesy notice to neighbours,” Cr Moore said.
Meanwhile, both the president of the NSW Local Government Association, Cr Genia McCaffery, with the support of the director of the Nature Conservation Council NSW Cate Faehrmann, said the legislation is flawed and there has been insufficient time for a proper assessment of the impacts the changes will have on communities and the environment. .
But Sydney Chamber of Commerce executive director, Patricia Forsythe, maintains that the new planning laws are designed to introduce commonsense back into the planning system.
‘These reforms are about kick starting residential development at a time of acute housing shortages,’ Mrs Forsythe said.
Mrs Forsythe said that housing unaffordability is a major concern and that now is the time to streamline the planning system.
‘Under the current system basic renovations are choking the planning system and distracting local government from the real challenges in local communities.
Mrs Forsythe rejected concerns by the local government lobby that these reforms will strip local communities of their say.
‘The reality is that the vast bulk of developments will continue to be assessed at a local level.
‘These laws will also depoliticise the planning process by referring larger development to independent planning panels. These laws are good for transparency and good for local communities.’
Speaking at the Annual Shires Association of NSW Conference earlier this month, NSW Planning Minister Frank Sartor said the planning reforms would create an efficient and transparent planning system.
‘As Planning Minister I have a responsibility to speak up and address these issues,’ he said.
‘Local Government can’t keep its head in the sand. Planning is a dynamic system and we have to meet the challenges of the 21st Century.’