2014-07-22 Planning & Organisation Committee Agenda

PLANNING & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                      22 JULY 2014


(b)   Condition Revision

At the Ordinary Meeting of 6 March 2014 Council generally resolved that:-

1.     The following planning applications would be reported to a Council meeting for a
       decision:-

      (a)   an application for a preliminary approval mentioned in section 242 of the Act to
            vary the effect of the planning scheme ;
      (b)   the approval of a proposed development where there is substantial non-
            compliance with a stated policy of the Council or a high order provision of the
            planning scheme being a desired environmental outcome, or an overall outcome
            of a code;
      (c)   the refusal of any application where Council is the assessment manager;
      (d)   requests, including Negotiated Decision requests, to change or cancel conditions
            that were imposed by Council at an Ordinary Meeting;
      (e)   an application for a proposed development of significant community interest.

2.    All planning applications be referred to Councillors for 3 business days prior to
      deciding the application. In this way a Councillor may request the matter to be
      considered at a Council meeting, instead of being determined under delegation.

3.    The planning and development instruments of delegation be reviewed and a further
      report presented to Council prior to the expiry of the 6 month trial period.

The 6 month trial period is coming to a close and during this time it is noted that officers
have not received any requests for a matter to be considered at a Council meeting, that
weren’t already intended to be reported to Council. However, the 3 day referral has assisted
some Councillors understanding of planning and development matters that arise in the Shire.

On this basis, it is appropriate that the 3 day referral to Councillors be reviewed, particularly
given the time frame for a decision under the new planning legislation is anticipated to
shorten. Also, the State Development, Infrastructure and Planning (Red Tape Reduction)
and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2014 proposes to rescind the iconic provisions
introduced at the time of local government amalgamations. This will mean code assessable
applications not decided within the decision time frame may be ‘deemed approved’, as
currently provided for other local government areas not identified as an iconic place.
Notably, impact assessable applications not decided within the decision time frame may be
‘deemed refused’.

Instead, an option may be to:-
    Continue to provide a list of new applications lodged with Council on a monthly basis.
    Continue to ‘automatically’ report to Council those items listed in 1(a) to 1(e) above.
    Continue to provide a list of all applications decided by officers on a monthly basis.
    And provide for the ability for Councillors to request a matter to be considered at a
      Council meeting, with the request to be made before the decision stage commences.

In terms of items listed in 1(a) to 1(e) it is considered necessary that some exclusions apply
due to statutory time constraints to address and avoid the potential for applications that may
be ‘deemed approval’ pursuant to sections 330-331 of the Sustainable Planning Act 2009.
This applies to applications for development that are required to follow a code assessable
process.




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