Liverpool City Council recently received the Overall Gold Award for Management Innovation at the 2002 LGMA/Sydney Morning Herald Management Excellence Awards. Council won this award for its Independent Hearing Assessment Panel (IHAP) approach to assessing development applications.
Council won this award for its Independent Hearing Assessment Panel (IHAP) approach to assessing development applications. Established in 1987, IHAP is a panel of four people including specialists in urban design and planning, a lawyer and a community representative. With the exception of the community member, none of the others live or work within the Liverpool area.
In the last 12 months, 41 development applications went to the Council’s IHAP. The IHAP itself was formed in response to rapidly increasing development in the Liverpool area, fuelled by a burgeoning population.
“IHAP is one of the systems we use to manage the rapid urbanisation and renewal of Liverpool,” said Council’s General Manager, Brian Carr. “It offers a process that is transparent and credible and one that is closely aligned to our organisational objectives as we manage unprecedented growth.”
Council conducts regular surveys and reviews of the IHAP for improvements to be made. The latest survey found that 81 per cent of participants felt that they had sufficient opportunity to express their views before the panel.
Councillor Tony Beuk said that IHAP allows Council time to focus on strategy and policy development.
“With the rapid growth experienced in Liverpool it is essential that Council develops good policies to shape the operational side of the assessment and implementation procedures,” he said. “The establishment of an independent panel to assess DAs represents an outstanding contribution to the management processes and has significant benefits for community planning and urban design.”
For further information, contact Council’s Corporate Manager Built Environment, Gerrard Turrisi, telephone (02) 9821 9286.
