The Property Council of Australia is calling on local governments to focus more on developing their own shared community vision and support Development Assessment Panels (DAP) to make informed and independent decisions on development applications.
An upcoming report into local government planning performance in Perth shows that less than a third of local governments have a local planning strategy that is five years or younger and only four councils have a local planning scheme that is under five years old, as required by state laws.
Under the Planning and Development (Local Planning Schemes) Regulations 2015, local governments has a responsibility to review both their strategy and scheme every 5 years.
“A lot of the community’s concerns with higher density housing development can be answered if local governments engage more with their communities about delivering a shared, strategic growth vision for their local area,” Property council WA Executive Director Lino Iacomella said.
“A modern local strategic growth plan that balances the economic, social and environmental needs and aspirations of a community will also reveal what development is actually needed to meet the needs of growing local communities. This includes the important requirement for greater housing diversity from people of all ages.
“Local governments have the most important role in local planning, the setting of development rules through their local planning strategies and schemes.
“The DAP’s role is to make independent and informed decisions based on the council’s rules.
“The fact that 95% of all DAP decisions are in-line with the recommendations of the professional planners in local governments is also evidence that DAPs are working effectively”, said Mr Iacomella.
The Property Council will launch the Benchmarking Greater Perth Local Governments report on Sep 8.
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Media contact: Lino Iacomella | M 0417 501 974 | E [email protected]