Don't cave in to developers on planning controls, warns ALGA
24 June 2004
Today's Productivity Commission report on housing affordability comes dangerously close to caving in to developers' demands that the ability of councillors to make decisions on controversial development applications should be restricted, Australian Local Government Association President, Cr Mike Montgomery, said today.
'Councils regulate development by setting local planning policy and assessing development applications. For purposes of efficiency, assessment is mostly delegated to planning officials but councils have the ability to step in and make decisions directly, particularly where controversial developments flout local planning policy or where a development raises a significant policy matter,' Cr Montgomery said.
'The report recommends that state and local government 'need to give priority to the scope to achieve greater separation of policy making and administration'. It also canvasses a model in which councillors are limited to minority participation in an independent assessment panel - a totally unacceptable outcome.
'While local government is already doing much to streamline and improve the development application process, a fact acknowledged in the report, democratically elected local representatives would not abrogate their responsibility to make decisions on specific development applications on behalf of their communities.
'The Productivity Commission report also discusses a controversial development assessment model that is currently out for public comment. The model calls, among other things, for the 'separation' of councillors' responsibility for setting planning policy and their ability to make decisions on individual applications. Again, this is completely unacceptable to local government and is a recipe for disastrous planning outcomes.
'The report wrongly states that this model has been recommended by the Development Assessment Forum, a body comprising representatives of all three spheres of government, industry and professional groups. The Forum has not made any recommendations about the model. The model was commissioned by DAF from the University of Canberra and is currently subject to public consultation.
'The reforms required to address housing affordability should focus on the supply of land and major cost drivers and not get distracted into relatively minor planning assessment issues.
'ALGA is pleased, however, that the principle of infrastructure charges has been supported by the Productivity Commission, but is sceptical of some recommendations made in relation to these important sources of financing for community infrastructure,' Cr Montgomery said.
