Greens Councillor Irene Doutney said she was inspired to put the motion after discussion with colleagues on other councils about the difficulty of engaging communities on planning issues beyond those immediately relating to development proposals. “The picture seems to be the same across the state. People will go to great lengths to get involved in planning issues when they’re immediately relevant, such as when a large development is proposed next door, but in most other situations planning rules are just too dry to attract much interest.
“However, if the White Paper pushes forward with the Green Paper’s proposal of only allowing community input into the creation of overarching plans, it will be essential that this changes. These overarching plans will likely be similar to existing Local Environment Plans (LEPs) which are made years in advance. Communities will need to get used to getting involved in the nitty gritty of these plans, or they’ll have no say at all in what happens in their neighbourhoods.”
The Council’s submission on the Planning Green Paper raised a number of concerns about the proposed direction of the NSW Planning Review, and these concerns were reiterated in the adopted motion that also called on the O’Farrell government to ensure at least six months of public consultation on the Paper.
Council’s support for community meetings will assist the community to understand the NSW government planning reforms, to improve community engagement in the planning process and to discuss implications of these reforms for the Local Government Area. Council will use the meetings to gain feedback on what Council needs to do to support the community, to obtain residents’ views to help shape the Council’s response to the White Paper and to consult with the community on co-operation in the new planning environment for the benefit of the LGA.
The Planning White Paper will be released in the next month or so.
Prior to their election the Liberal Party promised a fair and transparent planning system that put the community back in control. Over 280 groups from around the state have joined the Better Planning Network (betterplanningnetwork.good.do) to push for changes in the White Paper.
