Councils lash ‘ham-fisted’ planning reforms to fast-track major projects
The mayors representing four greater Hobart councils have slammed planned reforms to development approvals, labelling it as the “wild west of planning” and “cowboy stuff”.
Politics
Don't miss out on the headlines from Politics. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The mayors representing four greater Hobart councils have hit out at government plans to take some development approvals out of the hands of local government and hand them to expert panels.
They described the government’s plan for Development Assessment Panels as “ham-fisted”, “the wild west on steroids” and “complete overreach” — which would allow developers to bypass the State Planning Scheme and strip appeal rights from local residents.
Clarence Mayor Brendan Blomeley said the DAPs removed the voice of the community from planning decisions and hand it to unelected officials.
“Anything could be approved without any of the checks and balances that are currently in place,” he said.
“An abattoir could be approved to be built right next door to me in Lindisfarne and I would have no right of repeal.
“This is cowboy stuff. This is bad legislation. This will not deliver good planning outcome for our state.”
Hobart Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds said 99 per cent planning applications were approved quickly by councils.
“The Tasmanian planning rule book will not apply to these panels, they will set their own rules,” she said.
“That’s why we’ve called it the wild west of planning and development because we don’t know what these panels what sort of rules they’ll set for themselves.”
She said the state already had legislation to deal with projects of major state and regional significance.
Glenorchy Mayor Sue Hickey said the plan would do nothing to remove politics from planning as the government claims.
“You cannot leave these decisions to the minister and his friends. It must go through proper processes. It needs more checks and balances,” she said.
“Inthis case, he hasn’t done his homework, and he deserves a kick up the pants.”
And Kingborough mayor Paula Wriedt said the legislation wasn’t fit for debate and should be withdrawn.
“We can only assume that they’re intending to ram this through both Houses of Parliament by the end of the year, and that is not allowing proper process to take place and adequate consultation and consideration of this important bill,” she said.
Premier Jeremy Rockliff said he was open to listening to concerns about the legislation — but not those raised by the mayors.
“Frankly I’m not interested in mayors that have self-interest, of course, and grandstanding,” he said.
“What I’m interested in is putting roofs over people’s heads. What I’m interested in is getting things done and that’s where the DAPs legislation comes to hand, where we can take these issues out of local government into a proper Development Assessment Panel and ensure that these projects go ahead.”
Property Council Tasmania director Rebecca Ellston supports the plan.
“One of the key successes of the DAPs system is the involvement of independent experts that help strike an appropriate balance between local representation and professional advice in decision making by ensuring that decisions made by the panel are based on the planning merits application,” she said.
Wind farm declared major project
The $1.5 billion project is expected to create 200+ jobs over two years of construction, and now Cellars Hill Wind Farm has been declared a major project.
Justice comes at a price: Tassie spends more than the rest
Tasmania spends more per capita on police than any other state and is sending more people to jail despite fewer cases making it to court, national figures show.