Council calls for more time

COUNCIL is calling on the State Government to scrap proposed new planning rules that will halve the time councils have to assess development applications.
Mayor Tony Wellington has slammed the proposed changes, saying they will lead to increased fees for applicants and less time to consider applications.
“For an information request, council currently has up to 20 business days, whereas under the proposed new DA rules, this would change to 10 business days,” he said.
“For an assessment and decision, council currently has 45 business days to both assess the development and issue a decision notice. Under the proposed rules, council has just 35 business days to assess, yet this would also include the time taken to issue an information request (which thus comes off the total time).
“There are two pertinent points. The first is that the timeframes for council to deal with a development application would be significantly reduced, and in many cases halved, under the new rules.
“The other point is that the proposed timeframes will make it very difficult for council where the development application is large and complex. Such examples from recent history would include the Noosa on Weyba proposal or the Noosa Civic expansion application.”
Additionally, the proposed changes will also allow applicants to opt out of responding to council requests for further information.
“This means councils could be forced to decide major development applications without access to all the facts,” Councillor Wellington said.
The new rules also prevent a council asking for additional time to properly assess an application.
“As well as paving the way for poor planning outcomes, the proposed changes may reduce the time residents have to make inquiries about a development application,” Cr Wellington said.
Cr Wellington said council would need to recruit extra planning staff to meet the tighter timeframes – a cost that will have to be passed on to developers through higher fees and charges.
Planning and Environment Manager Kerri Coyle said the State Government was amending the development assessment rules following changes to the Planning Act, passed in May.
Council will prepare a formal submission as part of the consultation process for the new rules by the 19 December deadline.
To view the new Development Assessment Rules visit www.dilgp.qld.gov.au/planning-reform.html.