DAPs Essential to build strong communities

DAPs Essential to build strong communitiesDevelopment Assessment Panels (DAPs) have now been part of the planning approvals landscape in Western Australia since their inception in July 2011. The introduction of DAPs was a strategic priority of the Department of Planning’s Planning makes it happen – a blueprint for planning reform. DAPs were identified as a mechanism for achieving greater transparency, consistency and reliability in the planning decision making process. Since that time, DAPs have made 1,000 determinations resulting in the approval of over $30 billion worth of development in Western Australia. An important aspect of the system is the independence of the Council Officers in preparing Responsible Authority Reports (RARs) to the respective DAPs. In this regard, 94% of the 1,000 decisions have been made in accordance with the recommendation of the Officers in the RAR. DAPs have often been criticised due to a perceived lack of democratic accountability in the planning and development approvals process. This criticism arises from the appointment to each DAP of three specialist Government appointed members who are not directly accountable for their decisions via the political process. As the Property Council has been quick to point out in the past, DAPs are only responsible for making decisions that are in accordance with statutory planning frameworks, including Local Planning Schemes, which have been properly made under the Planning and Development Act 2005. Where such frameworks are up to date and properly endorsed by the community then the community should not fear the outcome of the DAP determination process. Where however a planning framework does not sit within the expectations of the community then the community should lobby for the planning framework, the Local Planning Strategy and the Local Planning Scheme, to be updated.There is no doubt that the DAP system has improved the certainty of delivery timeframes for decision making which again adds confidence to the delivery process in the development industry. The system has been reviewed on two occasions with somewhat minor tweaking being undertaken with respect to mandatory opt-in thresholds, the number of DAPs and more recently, further minor amendments which include allowing for a greater public engagement in the meeting process which has often been a criticism, RARs are to include more information about why decisions can be made, and allowing proponents an option to choose between a local government or a DAP when requesting an amendment to a minor aspect of an existing development approval. Some would say that these amendments do not address all the concerns expressed over DAPs but Planning Reform is a work in progress, the DAP system has been extremely successful and if anything has brought a rigor to the planning and assessment process that has created a renewed confidence and certainty of outcome within the development industry. David CaddyExecutive ChairmanTPG + Place Match