Pittwater Council in New South Wales has been recognised by the State’s peak professional body, the Planning Institute of NSW, for its electronic assessment process. The innovative approach reduces the administrative burden associated with the processing of development applications. The project won the Urban Planning category at the 2005 Awards for Excellence for an outstanding contribution to current urban planning practice.
Pittwater was also successful at the National Awards for Local Government, where its web based planning initiatives won a Commendation in the Information Technology Category for Innovation.
Pittwater Council staff developed the services in conjunction with their technology partner, Infomaster. “The planning and development process is extremely complex and can result in lengthy delays,” said Council’s General Manager, Mark Ferguson. “These web based initiatives help reduce processing times and provide a level of transparency and consistency not usually associated with the development process.”
Using mobile tablets (similar to a notebook but with additional interactive screen features) and broadband access, Development Officers can now assess applications on site.
A pre prepared template is generated by the system for individual development applications. Staff only need to key in information once to automatically produce letters, referrals and reports. The system allows multiple officers to work on an application at the same time, resulting in significant reductions in processing times.
Using the Pittwater website and entering an address, customers can also find out what types of developments are permitted on land in Pittwater, and what rules apply to a chosen type of development on a particular block of land.
Once a development application is lodged, stakeholders in the planning process can then track the progress of the application through to the construction phase.
The final module, an electronic lodgement facility, is currently under development. When complete, the module will allow development applications and associated documents to be lodged via the internet.
For further information contact Mark Ferguson on (02) 9970 1103.
