18 May 2010Councils don't buy Minister's JRPP Spin
NSW councils are not surprised that the Department of Planning will hand back some of the planning powers seized by the Joint Regional Planning Panels.
After less than 12 months of operation, the Department is set to hand back power for a number of types of development applications currently determined by the Panels.
President of the Local Government Association of NSW Cr Genia McCaffery said that councils were not surprised that the Department of Planning was not finding the processing of large, complex developments approvals as easy as they had expected.
"We have been saying from the beginning that this was not simply a matter, as the Minister at the time claimed, of councils being too political to do their job regarding larger scale developments.
"The Panels took over a role that was handled – generally very well – by NSW councils, duplicated existing structures and added another layer of bureaucracy to the process.
"The then-Minister's line was that state panel members would be less susceptible to outside pressures than councillors – optimistic at best and naïve at worst.
"The only difference is that the panel members aren't accountable to the local community.
"That they are already ready to hand back some of those powers shows just how wrong they got it."
The JRPPs were also trumpeted by the State Government as a way to speed up the DA process. Minister for Planning Tony Kelly has claimed that the JRPPs took only 114 days to approve, as opposed to councils, who he claimed took 249 days.
However this figure is a glaring, self-serving exaggeration.
That figure was the average gross determination time. However, when time taken for delays due to referrals to state agencies and for applicants to provide missing information is taken into consideration, councils were only responsible for 120 days of the process.
"It's a complete double standard," said Cr McCaffery.
"The majority of hold ups in council determinations were caused either by delays in State agencies, or incomplete or inadequate information supplied by the applicants.
"Minister Kelly claims that Panels are taking a long time to determine applications because the larger development proposals were more complex.
"When they were pushing to strip local communities of their input into planning decisions, they certainly never conceded that councils were dealing with exactly those problems.
"In the past, our planning system made sure that local views were a key point to be considered.
"The Panels have disenfranchised our communities, and I think it's already causing a lot of distrust and friction."
After less than 12 months of operation, the Department is set to hand back power for a number of types of development applications currently determined by the Panels.
President of the Local Government Association of NSW Cr Genia McCaffery said that councils were not surprised that the Department of Planning was not finding the processing of large, complex developments approvals as easy as they had expected.
"We have been saying from the beginning that this was not simply a matter, as the Minister at the time claimed, of councils being too political to do their job regarding larger scale developments.
"The Panels took over a role that was handled – generally very well – by NSW councils, duplicated existing structures and added another layer of bureaucracy to the process.
"The then-Minister's line was that state panel members would be less susceptible to outside pressures than councillors – optimistic at best and naïve at worst.
"The only difference is that the panel members aren't accountable to the local community.
"That they are already ready to hand back some of those powers shows just how wrong they got it."
The JRPPs were also trumpeted by the State Government as a way to speed up the DA process. Minister for Planning Tony Kelly has claimed that the JRPPs took only 114 days to approve, as opposed to councils, who he claimed took 249 days.
However this figure is a glaring, self-serving exaggeration.
That figure was the average gross determination time. However, when time taken for delays due to referrals to state agencies and for applicants to provide missing information is taken into consideration, councils were only responsible for 120 days of the process.
"It's a complete double standard," said Cr McCaffery.
"The majority of hold ups in council determinations were caused either by delays in State agencies, or incomplete or inadequate information supplied by the applicants.
"Minister Kelly claims that Panels are taking a long time to determine applications because the larger development proposals were more complex.
"When they were pushing to strip local communities of their input into planning decisions, they certainly never conceded that councils were dealing with exactly those problems.
"In the past, our planning system made sure that local views were a key point to be considered.
"The Panels have disenfranchised our communities, and I think it's already causing a lot of distrust and friction."
Cr. Genia McCaffery President, Local Government Association
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