2014-02-25 Planning & Organisation Committee Meeting Agenda

PLANNING & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA   25 FEBRUARY 2014




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PLANNING & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                                          25 FEBRUARY 2014

                POLICY STATEMENT — Development Assessment — Roles and Responsibilities of Councillors and Council Employees
                                      LEVEL OF INVOLVEMENT BY COUNCILLORS AND OFFICERS IN DEVELOPMENT
                       STAGE                                      ASSESSMENT PHASES

                                      should take a cautionary approach to
                                      commenting on conditions of approval as
                                      conditions are subject to review by the
                                      courts against the tests for
                                      reasonableness and relevancy.

                  Post-Decision       Involvement = Cautionary                 Involvement = Technical Advice
                  Phase —
                  Requests for       The post-decision phase is particularly   Officers prepare assessment of an
                  Changes to          sensitive as the applicant may accept to application to change or modify an
                 Approvals            appeal a decision                        approval
                                      Council should take caution with dealings
                                      and seek direction from the appropriate
                                      co-ordinating Manager if in doubt.

                  Appeals             Involvement = Nil / Cautionary           Involvement = Technical Advice
                  (to the Tribunal or
                  the Planning and    Once an appeal is lodged it is           Officers and council's legal
                  Environment         inappropriate for Councillors to enter into representative(s) manage the conduct of
                 Court)               discussions with applicants, appellants or | the Appeal.
                                     third party submitters aimed at brokering a
                                      settlement or a compromise different from | During the course of the Appeal ‘without
                                     the corporate decision reached by the     prejudice’ meetings may be held between
                                      council (or its delegate).               the parties in the appeal to try to reach an
                                                                               agreement, at least, limit the issues in
                                      As a rule Councillors should not attend  dispute
                                      ‘without prejudice’ meetings, unless
                                      expressly requested by the CEO or        Officers should ensure that relevant
                                      Mayor. Officers will ensure that         Councillors are briefed on the outcomes
                                      Councillors are briefed on the outcomes  of ‘without prejudice’ meetings.
                                      of the meeting
                                                                               In some instances where policy issues are
                                     The risk of attendance and participation at | involved, the matter should be reported to
                                      ‘without prejudice’ Meetings is the      the whole of council as discussions
                                      perception of directing council officers progresses in order that officers can
                                     who are present to take some particular   obtain a whole of council view on the
                                      position. This would constitute a        policy related issues and proposed
                                      ‘statutory breach’ of s.170(3) of the Loca/ conduct of the Appeal.
                                      Government Act 1993.

                2. Infrastructure Agreements
                The Sustainable Planning Act 2009 makes provision for an applicant and a council to enter
                into an agreement for the provision of infrastructure over and beyond established standards.
                This provision exists specifically for large developments which require special consideration
                and may not have been accounted for in standard codes and policies (e.g. developer
                charges policies).

                While a Councillor may readily identify to the Development Manager some aspect of
                infrastructure provision that they believe should apply to a large, impacting development, it is
                inappropriate for the Councillor to be negotiating the content of an Infrastructure Agreement
                with the applicant because the Infrastructure Agreement becomes part of the development
                proposal (“offer”) and should be considered by the council as a part of the whole DA
                package.

                Involvement in direct negotiations on an Infrastructure Agreement has the capacity to be
                viewed as pre-determining an application, or advocacy on behalf of the Applicant.

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