02 July 2010

We have reviewed the second round of draft model clauses. Once again we highlight problematic model clauses.

11 June 2010

For this project to be a success there is an urgent need for a coordinated state led review of planning controls along the proposed light rail route and also around proposed light rail stations. Redevelopment of the existing low-density urban and industrial land is essential if light rail is to be a real alternative transport option to bus and/or conventional rail.

01 June 2010

How to re-boot the Sydney Metropolitan Strategy. A submission to the NSW Department of Planning's Metropolitan Strategy Review and a response to the discussion paper Sydney Towards 2036.

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21 May 2010

.... and extending the reach of heritage laws into lounge rooms everywhere

This is a submission to the NSW Department of Planning paper Potential Amendments to the Standard Instrument March 2010.

 

Regretfully, we are very critical of the great bulk of the proposals in this document. With only a few exceptions, it seems that these proposals have been prepared on the assumption that the NSW planning system is suffering from a lack of regulation and detailed prescription.

20 May 2010

How the Nation Building and Jobs Plan (State Infrastructure Delivery) Act 2009 enabled the planning system to work as was originally intended.

An Urban Taskforce submission to the NSW Government on the review of the exercise of the NSW Coordinator-Generals functions.

17 May 2010

The three per cent levy is a thinly disguised betterment tax. The reality is a 3 per cent levy will not raise even a fraction of the $109 million sought if only because the levy will act as a barrier to the development of Chatswood.

07 May 2010

Prolonged deferral of rezoning determinations until the Government commits to a transport plan that meets all of Councils desires is not an appropriate policy position for a progressive council.

26 March 2010

If the Department keeps heading in its current direction, the best we can hope for is that the whole Standard Instrument process will merely be a waste of time. On the other hand, under the current policy settings, it seems more likely that the Standard Instrument will be used to increase and entrench the micro-regulation of land use across NSW. This was never the original intention.

03 March 2010

Its crucial that any powers given to the Sydney Metropolitan Development Authority do not create incentives for the authority to nationalise land in order to rezone, make profits, and sell the land back to the private sector.

09 February 2010

Clause 6.4 allows the development consent process to be fragmented, so that there are effectively two different consent authorities. Furthermore, the decision-makers in the conventional development assessment process, even joint regional planning panel members, or Land and Environment Court commissioners, will be prohibited for approving a development to the maximum capacity of a site, unless they have the separate approval of the new Public Benefit Design Panel. The Public Benefit Design Panels decisions to refuse approval will not be appealable. A Court Commissioner or joint regional planning panel will not have the power to override the Public Benefit Design Panel. The panel will be appointed by local politicians (councillors) and therefore will lack independence from the highly charged atmosphere of Ku-ring-gai council local politics.