Planning proposal under fire

It is calling for the State Government to dump the changes.
The legislation would see the introduction of Development Assessment Committees (DACs) for decisions on planning proposal in activity centres.
Ryrie Ward councillor Jeanette McRae told a meeting on Tuesday 26 May that the committees would lead to the loss of the democratic process.
She said the government was trying to remove councils from the planning process and introduce the widespread use of ministerial call-in powers for planning applications the ministers considered “shovel ready”.
The legislation was introduced to Parliament in April and was set to be debated yesterday (1 June).
The Mail believes the Liberal National Coalition would vote against the bill.
If passed, the committees would be made up of two council representatives, two government officials and an independent person.
Councils would not get the final decision, that would be left up to DACs.
Cr McRae questioned what would happen to the open and transparent processes now available.
She said it was imperative to make the Government sit up and take notice of council as the third tier of government.
“We are at the grass-roots level and choose to be open, democratic and transparent,” she said.
But a Government spokesman said the committees were not about taking power away from councils, but would lead to a partnership between state and local governments in decision making.
“They are about making quality decisions on projects and matters of significance,” he said.
“DACs are about reducing the need to call in projects by allowing more balance in decisions that affect communities.”
The spokesman said both state and local planning policies could also be equally considered in an independently chaired open forum, rather than by one council-appointed officer.
But Lyster Ward councillor Samantha Dunn said the legislation was a slap in the face of the community, which had put trust in the councillors’ decision-making abilities.
“The DACs will diminish our role on behalf of our community,” she said. “There will be a loss of democratic process,” she said.
“We need to put the strongest opposition we can on this.”
Mayor Len Cox said all the Government was interested in was fast-tracking the planning process and cutting back on the number of appeals.
“This smacks to me of the total disillusion of the council process,” he said.
“It rejects democracy as we know it … I hope the Government sees the light and dumps it.”