Residents suffer from DA information blackout from Blacktown Council
RATEPAYERS in one of Sydney’s most rapidly growing regions could miss out on information about proposed developments in their community.
Rouse Hill
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RATEPAYERS in one of Sydney’s most rapidly growing regions could miss out on information about proposed developments in their community.
Blacktown Council fails to upload development applications for the public to view immediately after documentation is submitted to the council.
Instead, it waits until the development is on public exhibition, which could take several months.
A council spokesman said it was compliant with legislative and regulatory requirements relating to the release of public information about development applications.
But residents could be left in the dark for up to 18 months over developments in their neighbourhood while the council waits for a development tracker, eServices, to be installed online.
The council spokesman said residents would be able to search and track application progress once eServices is rolled out.
He said it published all development applications, from minor requests such as carports to major projects including shopping centres.
However, the council recently failed to upload information about a shopping centre earmarked for Railway Terrace at Schofields.
It is being assessed by the Sydney Central West Joint Regional Planning Panel.
The Rouse Hill Times was told it had to make a Freedom of Informational request.
A Marsden Park subdivision could also not be retrieved from the council websites despite being under assessment by the panel.
Blacktown Mayor Stephen Bali said 74 development applications were listed on the council’s website and it was being transparent with ratepayers.
“There are various ways to access development applications or be notified of them,” he said. “I introduced a council resolution almost a decade ago to have signs placed on property’s subject to a DA so passer-by would be aware of the proposal.
“Council advertises in the local papers and notifies the immediate neighbours — if there are many concerns raised by the community we also have held public meetings and invite the DA proponents to address the community.”