State Government changes: council to mull over loss of planning powers

The State Government is certain to cop a blast at tomorrow night’s Campbelltown City Council meeting for introducing new laws that strip councils of large chunks of their power over new developments.

A report to council says the changes have been passed in parliament without the promised consultation with local government.

The report says the changes will be a double blow to councils: loss of power and a financial hit as ratepayers will have to pay for the running of Local Planning Panels.

With Labor holding a majority and the Liberals down to two representatives as Cr Ted Rowell is on indefinite leave, the most likely outcome of tomorrow night’s council meeting is robust condemnation of the Berejiklian Government.

The changes mean that Independent Hearing and Assessment Panels (IHAPs) and Local Planning Panels (LPPs) will become mandatory for all councils in the Greater Sydney Region.

Consent authority functions will no longer be exercisable by councillors above specified thresholds.

The report to council says that although the thresholds for the referring of development applications to the Sydney South West Planning Panel (SSWPP) has been raised from $20 million to $30 million, a secondary threshold has also been set at $5 million, for the referral of development applications to a LPP.

[social_quote duplicate=”no” align=”default”]“This means that any development application with a value between $5 million and $20 million that would have normally been dealt with by the Council is now to be removed from the Council, and is to be dealt with by the LPP,’’ says the report.[/social_quote]

“This is in addition to those development applications with a value below $5 million that also meet other specific criteria that results in the removal of Council’s authority.

“Councillors will no longer have the authority to determine development applications at a Council meeting that exceed or meet the specified criteria and many applications currently determined by staff under delegation will be required to be held over and reported to a LPP for determination.

“This will have significant time and cost implications for Council in the administration of these applications,’’ says the report.

The State Government changes include:

Section 23I of the EPA Act 1979 amended to specify that the functions of a Council as a consent authority are not exercisable by the councillors for Development Applications, modifications and imposition of conditions and Section 94 contributions.

However councillors are still able to endorse the making of a Section 94 plan;

· The Minister may direct Council to refer a Planning Proposal to a panel for advice;

· Council is to provide staff, facilities, monitor the performance of and meet all costs of the panel;

· One panel can be established for two or more Local Government Areas; and,

· Panels are to be constituted by March 1 next year.

“Under the new proposed thresholds and based on our current application types and value, it is likely that a small number of applications would still be reported to the SSWPP above the $30 million threshold and given the wide ranging criteria, an unknown number of DAs would be reported to a LPP in a year,’’ says the report to council.

“The number of applications reported to a LPP is likely to be far in excess of that currently reported to Council which is currently less than 20 applications in a given year.

“The true impact of the changes will take some time to assess given the extent of new criteria for LPPs. however they are likely to have significant administration and cost implications, introducing another layer of decision making and reporting, including separate assessment and reporting to the council so as to ensure that it is adequately informed of the more significant and/or contentious DAs lodged with the council from time to time.

“Council officers are unaware of any attempt to consult on this matter.’’

Tomorrow night’s council meeting will start from 6.30pm.