Last week in NSW Parliament former NSW Premier Kristina Keneally attempted to shut down a speech by Greens MP for Balmain Jamie Parker which outlined further evidence of a billion dollar gift to Lend Lease by the former NSW Labor government. The extraordinary effort to gag Mr Parker’s speech was overruled by the Acting Speaker.

In the past six financial years Leichhardt Council has cut Development Application (DA) processing times by 70 days, from 185 days to 115.

And in an even greater improvement, in the period from July to December in 2011 Council reduced those times by a further 31 days, bringing the average processing time down to 84 days.

Greens Mayor of Leichhardt Cr Rochelle Porteous said that two major business improvement programs in the past six years have contributed to these improvements.

“In 2010/11 Council also contracted independent consultants to further review our Development Application processes,” she said.

This is all despite the fact that the Leichhardt Local Government area is one of the most complicated development environments in the Nation.

“As the fourth most intensely developed LGA in Australia with some of the smallest lots and highest land values in Sydney, and significant heritage issues, achieving quality outcomes takes time,” said Cr Porteous.

Approximately 70% of Leichhardt Council falls into a Heritage Conservation zone and there is a high proportion of high density development, with the majority of residential lots across Leichhardt LGA being 300m2 or less in size.

77% of DAs submitted to Leichhardt Council are alterations and additions, which often affect neighbours and therefore attract objections – in fact 50% of DAs in the 2011/12 reporting period received at least one objection.

“Council takes the Department of Planning’s performance monitoring very seriously, but we are equally concerned with achieving the best possible outcomes for both applicants and neighbours,” said Cr Porteous.

“Too much focus on complying with time frames could come at the cost of quality outcomes for both applicants and objectors.

“Council considers itself to be not only a statutory body but an organisation which negotiates solutions to resident’s problems.

“We do acknowledge that there are still improvements to be made, and we are focused on making them.

“This morning we held a workshop with local developers aimed at helping us to improve our pre DA advisory service.

“This allows applicants to meet with Council representatives and discuss their application before it is lodged and so improve the quality of their application.

“Improving the applications that are lodged with Council will improve their quality and, ultimately, further speed the entire DA process for everyone.”

Changes Leichhardt Council has already implemented include:

• Fast tracking of simple DAs that meet local planning controls.
• Faster internal referrals.
• Working with applicants to ensure good quality applications that will not need additional information submitted or external agency referrals – both of which slow processing times.
• Increased promotion of Council’s pre-DA advisory service.
• Heritage advisor available to work with applicants.
• Better and more consistent advice such as clearer engineering and heritage controls.
• Additional staff on a temporary basis to help clear backlog of DAs – this addressed an artificially inflated estimation of staff in the 2009/10 reporting period.

Leichhardt Council will continue with a program of improvements aimed at making the DA process clearer for applicants and reducing processing times in 2012.

Greens NSW MP and Planning spokesperson David Shoebridge said:

“Despite the previous government stripping away local government’s planning powers, this has delivered next to no change in most development assessment times.

“In the last two years councils have had to cope with rafts of new planning laws and constant changes in State regulation, yet they have keep their turnaround times steady. This is a real achievement.

“These figures show that it is the State government, not local councils, that is dragging the chain on planning approvals.

“Referrals to State government bodies are taking 10% longer to determine in 2010/11 than they did in 2009/10.

“The take home message from these figures is that a centralised planning system doesn’t deliver.

“The mind boggling complexity in this state’s planning laws needs to be addressed, not the workings of local government.

“The State government needs to commit to becoming an equal partner with local government, and not continue to shift the blame to councils for its own failings.

“Speed of assessment should be only one small part of determining a council’s development assessment performance.

“The crucial points missing in these figures are the quality of the assessment and the degree of community acceptance of the outcomes.

“The test for real planning reform for the O’Farrell government will be if it re-empowers local communities so they can make decisions about their own backyards,” Mr Shoebridge said.

NSW Greens Planning Spokesperson David Shoebridge said:

“This is Barry O’Farrell’s recipe for developer profits at the cost of sensible strategic planning for Sydney.

“Even the discredited Labor administation did not set up a central committee, headed by the Premier’s department, to gift developers spot rezoning opportunities and cash windfalls.

“NSW is in the middle of a state-wide planning review which this govenment is just ignoring.

“It looks like NSW has changed governments, but the developers are still holding all the cards when it comes to land allocation in Sydney.

“This is part of O’Farrell’s unpopular ‘plan’ to drive development in Sydney’s fringes.

“It will not deliver the housing stock that is most in demand, with the residential market in Sydney moving away from energy-intensive and transport-starved greenfield development in Western Sydney.

“Premier O’Farrell and Planning Minister Hazzard have spent years saying they are returning planning powers to local council, yet at their first opportinity they are seizing rezoning powers from Sydney’s councils.

“What Sydney needs is strategic land planning, delivered by well resourced and empowered local communities, not another series of one-off developer bonanzas,” David Shoebridge said.

Related Links:

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/rezoning-blitz-in-push-for-housing-20120129-1qo29.html

Following the efforts of our Mayor Rochelle Porteous the consultation period for this latest proposal was extended until February 3 and a public consultation meeting is to be held this Wednesday, February 1.

The meeting will be held upstairs at Balmain Town Hall and start at 6.30pm.  Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend.

Further information on the proposal and how to lodge and objection can be found at the Roads & Maritime Services web site – Victoria Road Clearway

Leichhardt Council’s press release can also be found here  Leichhardt Council – Vic Road Clearway

The Plan aims to increase transport options in the LGA and make it. easy for us to make our travel sustainable.

Some of the great initiatives we are looking at include:

• Developing a pedestrian network that compliments bike paths, public transport and local facilities.
• Requiring all new major developments to prepare a green travel plan that will help us all reduce our reliance on private cars.
• Encouraging new developments to provide multi-use off-street parking (eg use by commercial tenants during business hours and residents at night).
• Supporting self-managed car pooling and car share schemes.
• Supporting cycle hire schemes and providing bike parking next to car share pods.
• Providing photo-voltaic cells on Council assets to power charging points for electric vehicles.

Dates will soon be announced for workshops at the Annandale, Leichhardt and Balmain Town Halls to take you through the Plan and we will also provide an online presentation on Leichhardt Council’s web site.

It’s important that you let us know what you think as we will use your feedback to shape the Draft Plan further, and put together a program to put the Plan into action.

At this stage the Draft Plan proposes 90 actions like the ones shown here to improve walking, cycling, public transport, community transport, parking, traffic management, road safety and the integration between transport and land use planning.

This is about the future of all of our residents, so we would like to hear what you think.  If you would like to be kept up to date on the progress of the plan, and the date and time of the workshops and presentations, please subscribe to Council’s E-newsletter at  www.leichhardt.nsw.gov.au/Subscribe.html

The Guest speaker for this meeting will be Professor Frank Stilwell who will discuss Green economics.

Harold Park

Balmain Greens MP Jamie Parker continues to lead the campaign to stop the overdevelopment of what was previously the Harold Park paceway.

Jamie Parker will chair a public meeting next week ahead of the City of Sydney’s Central Sydney Planning Committee decision about the Harold Park development.

This meeting will be one of the last opportunities for community members to voice concerns about the development before a final decision is made on whether the Harold Park development will be approved.

When: 11am Sat 4th Feb
Where: St Scholastica’s College hall, 2-4 Avenue Road Glebe.

This public housing estate at Cowper and Elger Streets was demolished earlier this year with over 50% of the new dwellings to be privately owned.

Jamie will join community groups Hands off Glebe and the Glebe Society at a public meeting on the issue:

When: 7pm Wed 1st Feb

Where: St Helen’s Community Centre, 184 Glebe Point Rd Glebe.

The workshop will be held on Sunday 5th February from 1 pm to 4:30 pm at the Greens NSW office at 19 Eve St, Erskineville. All Greens members are welcome to attend and participate in the discussion.

Futher details are available from Kelly Marks at John Kaye’s office on 02 9230 2668