LOCAL GOVERNMENT HAMSTRUNG BY DEVELOPMENT ASSESSMENT PANELS

Nowhere is the State Government’s development agenda more obviously displayed than in today’s announcement on the Cottesloe beachfront ‘rejuvenation’ plan.

The Government has announced the plan to allow for increases to the height limit along Marine Terrace. This modifies the Council’s planning scheme and sets in motion a plan which runs counter to community sentiment. This ‘open door’ development policy also begs the question of where the eventual responsibility and liability for the public assets that will be needed to service the beachfront developments will sit, and whether these have been considered in the context of climate change impacts and coastal erosion issues.

Greens MLC Robin Chapple expressed his disappointment at the wresting of control for planning decision making from local government today.

“This announcement illustrates the State’s deliberate interference in the ability of the people to make local decisions in a democratic manner. It effectively emasculates local government with respect to planning,” said Chapple.

“It also shows the inherent bias of the Development Assessment Panels, which are not truly representative by virtue of having fewer local members on the panels than other stakeholders – an inequitable situation at best. This situation negates the ability of the DAPS to adequately represent the community through its closest sphere of government.”

“Decisions on local planning should be made by the people, for the people. When state governments are given the power to remove a community’s right to set direction for its own community assets, it illustrates a flaw in the system that should be immediately rectified. DAPS should be reviewed to ensure equal representation from local government, if it is to continue to be used as a planning tool,” Mr Chapple said.

Independent experts had been consulted on recommended height limits for the foreshore development and these were not adhered to by the Government in this instance.

For more information please contact Robin Chapple on 0409 379 263 or 9486 8255

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