The State government appears to have blindsided Queensland councils with last minute planning changes that enable developers to bypass council planning schemes in the interest of faster outcomes on affordable housing.
Community consultation on the proposed amendments to the Planning Regulation 2017, the Minister’s Guidelines and Rules (MGR) and the Development Assessment Rules (DA Rules) to support the implementation of the Housing Availability and Affordability (Planning and Other Legislation) Amendment Bill 2023 (HAAPOLA) opened on Friday 19 April, but according to Mayor Frank Wilkie, Noosa Council staff were only briefed on the detail a little over a week ago.
Consultation closed last Tuesday 21 May, fortunately not before Council and Noosa MP Sandy Bolton had made their submissions.
While the HAAPOLA amendments to a bill that was already passed last month are in the main aimed at the very real affordable housing crisis, and, according to the Housing Department, will “simplify and expedite the supply of housing to get homes on the ground faster”, the devil, as they say, is in the detail, particularly the potential ramifications for Noosa within the state-facilitated development (SFD) clauses.
It was the late realisation of this that had Mayor Wilkie agitated at the first full meeting of the new Noosa Council last Thursday, when he moved a motion, “That Council note the State Government has responded to the current housing challenge through the recently passed HAAPOLA Bill.
“However, the consequential amendments being proposed to the supporting Regulations, Ministerial Guidelines and Development Assessment Rules, have potential to circumvent and undermine Council’s good planning through its planning scheme that could result in unacceptable development outcomes for the Noosa community … and it is recommended that Council make a formal submission raising particular concerns on the new State Facilitated Development (SDF) process.”
The motion was passed unanimously.
Mayor Wilkie called on the community to oppose proposed amendments which he said would allow developers to go direct to the State for planning approval if they include an affordable housing component. Under the changes, he said, including as little as 15 per cent affordable housing within a proposed development would be enough to remove vouncil as development assessor and give the State minister approval powers.
“The vague definition of affordable, the potential for these units to be sold on the open market, the unspecified height limits and right to build them almost anywhere undermines the locally responsive planning practices that have shaped our shire,” he said.
“Noosa Council has a long history of upholding its planning scheme and it’s what has defined the look and feel of the Noosa residents and visitors know and love today. Not only do these changes bypass council’s statutory assessment role and make the state the decision maker, but there is also no obligation on the state to consider our planning scheme in deciding what applications it approves. Plus, the changes proposed do not provide adequate assurance that affordable housing delivered in the developments it approves will be protected in perpetuity.”
Backgrounding Noosa’s submission to the state, Mayor Wilkie noted: “The minimum 15 per cent affordable housing criteria for SFD declaration is consider too low given the primary driver for the legislative changes is the provision of much needed affordable housing.
“Furthermore, there are concerns that the new process has the potential for large scale projects with minimal affordable housing could approved via the SFD process. This is further amplified given local government’s role in development assessment and planning schemes are being effectively set aside for SFD proposals…”
Speaking to Noosa Today on the last day of consultation on the amendments, Cr Wilkie said that he was consulting with the Queensland Council of Mayors and with the Local Government Association of Queensland to present a united front in opposing the amendments.
(See sidebar Advocates to weigh in, page ?)
Noosa’s Independent MP Sandy Bolton told Noosa Today that while she was supportive of anything to expedite the fast delivery of affordable housing, she was concerned about parts of the amendments and would raise these issues in her submission.
“Having spoken in Parliament last sitting about my opposition to the HAAPOLA Bill due to concerns around the capacity for state government to circumnavigate local government planning schemes via the SFD process, my concerns and opposition remain,” she said.
“The draft regulations include the potential for significant negative impacts from allowing the private sector to access this pathway without appropriate regulations to guarantee the genuine affordable housing that our community has been seeking, and which can only occur when housing is under management of government or community housing providers.
“The provision that 15 per cent of a private development be affordable raises the question, to whom will it be affordable? That the draft regulations remove the definition of affordable housing as that which is rented at the rate of 30 per cent of income, without specifying a replacement definition, is just one of a number of concerns we have raised in our submission.
“In addition, I will continue to work with Noosa Council and the State on the unacceptably short timeframe for consultation, as there are many aspects that take time to go through.
“Ultimately, our community has a need for affordable housing options, however we need to ensure that they are genuinely affordable, and not open to vague interpretations through broad definitions, nor outside the expectations of our community.”
