2016-12-12 General Committee Agenda

GENERAL COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                             12 DECEMBER 2016


The key differences introduced by the Development Assessment Rules are to the time period
permitted in which to:
   issue an information request which has been limited to 10 business days where as
     currently there is the ability to extend this period by a further 10 business days, giving a
     total of 20 business days.
   Issue a Decision Notice which has been limited to 35 business days, with this time frame
     now including the time taken to issue an information request and issue the Decision Notice.
     Currently there is the ability for Councils to extend the decision period by a further 20
     business days, giving a total of 40 business days with a further 5 business days to prepare
     and issue the Decision Notice. The Decision Notice now must also be received by the
     applicant within the Decision Period.
Further changes that will impact on application processing include:
   A time frame has now been imposed on requests for a Negotiated Decision Notice of 20
     business days though this is included in the Planning Act 2016 and is not part of the
     Development Assessment Rules. Currently under SPA there is no statutory time frame for
     negotiations.
   Reasons for a decision or conditions are required for all approvals, not just those in conflict
     with the planning scheme. This is included in the Planning Act 2016 and is not part of the
     Development Assessment Rules.
   The ability for the applicant to choose not to receive an information request.
   The ability for the applicant to ‘stop the clock’ for a cumulative period of up to 6 months
     anywhere through the application process, apart from during the public notification period.
     Conceivably this means the applicant may stop the decision period in order to amend the
     application, with no restart requirement to the decision period or process unless the
     amended development is substantially different.
   Applicants will have up to 20 business days to ‘revive’ a lapsed application. Currently there
     is an allowance for applications to be revived within 5 business days of a period ‘lapsing’.
Notably the following has continued with the Planning Act 2016:
   Deemed approvals has continued for code assessable applications where not decided
     within the Decision Period. Deemed refusals has continued for impact assessable
     applications.
   10 Business Day referral agency assessment period for Local Governments when
     concurrence agency requirements apply.
The new planning legislation provisions, particularly the time frames set out by the Development
Assessment Rules, have the potential to significantly impact on Council resources and achieving
good planning outcomes.
Review of current workloads and processing times highlights that approximately 20%-30% of
applications would not be decided within the Planning Act 2016 and Development Assessment
Rules time frames, with officers over the last 3 years having a 20 business day target time frame.
This target time frame has been predominantly met for Operational Works applications but has
been exceeded increasingly for Material Change of Use and Reconfiguring a Lot applications due
to negotiations with applicants, referral to a Council meeting for a decision and over the last 11
months officers have advised it is due to workload. Planners have advised that the number of
enquiries has increased, with an increased number of pre-lodgements held and written searches
in the last 6 months evident.




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