Articles: NSW Planning System

The evidence given by Mr. Haddad to the Legislative Council Inquiry on the NSW Planning System regarding the relative virtues of the standard form Liverpool LEP using a land use zoning format and the parcel/place formatted Warringah LEP which is modeled on the South Australian system may have unwittingly mislead the Committee. It is understood that in comparing the two LEPs Mr Haddad held up the two documents and noted their relative length. The issue of the relative length of control documents was also referred to in written answers to question 11. In his answers it seems that Mr. Haddad has unintentially mislead the Committee. As my response will explain, the comparisons he made were not like with like.

A submission by John Mant, Planner and non-practicing lawyer. It is submitted that the current Planning legislation (Environmental Planning & Assessment Act 1979) was fundamentally flawed from the beginning. The many attempts at reform have made things worse rather than better. The system has deteriorated because those attempting reform have refused to first recognize and then deal with the fundamental flaws. While some of the attempted reforms in themselves may have been reasonable, by being layered over a flawed framework, all too often they have had adverse results, adding to the complexities and the lack of transparency.

A raft of reforms to the NSW planning system has added many new sections to the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (the Act). More is not less, unless now you are able to bring your development in under the new Part 3A which allows the Minister to give consent with discretion unbounded by much of the large pile of existing planning and environmental controls. Instead of fixing the holes, bumps and dead ends in the existing systems, the reforms have created a by-pass expecting a relatively trouble free ride for those able to get past the gatekeeper at the turn-off.

From the Local Government Association of NSW and Shires Association of NSW.

An article by John Mant “Sartor blames wrong people for Planning delays”