Local Government NSW (LGNSW) has raised concerns over the NSW Government’s overhaul of the state’s planning system.
NSW Planning Minister Rob Stokes said the proposed changes aim to cut red tape and address housing supply.
LGNSW President, Councillor Keith Rhoades, said planning reform was overdue in the state, but that the association had reservations about the proposed changes.
“NSW has been crying out for major planning reform and I commend the Minister on his commitment to consult on the detail so any ‘fixes’ don’t create new issues,” Cr Rhoades said.
“Local government is concerned about the proposal to expand complying development to riskier, larger-scale development which could completely change the character of a local area.
“We welcome the Government’s plans to address some existing issues with complying development, like requiring developers to pay a compliance levy and strengthening enforcement powers to manage illegal work, but we don’t support expanding this model to larger-scale development.
“We strongly support the Government’s decision not to mandate local panning panels, after accepting our sector’s concerns that another layer of administration and decision-making was unnecessary.
“At the same time we’re concerned about the Planning Minister being given powers to impose local planning panels on councils, and about excluding councillors from those panels, because being the voice of the community is what they were elected to do.
“It also concerns us that the sign-off process of the proposed new local strategic statements reinforces the already top-down plan-making process, squeezing the character and life out of local planning in NSW.”
Cr Rhoades said councils had been consulted so far, but cautioned that this should continue.
“The Planning Minister has been very good on the consultation front with councils so far, and we welcome his commitment to work with us on the details.”
