Home Property Australia Eliminating planning roadblocks during COVID-19

Eliminating planning roadblocks during COVID-19

  • April 13, 2020

Eliminating planning roadblocks

We continue to work with Planning Minister Rita Saffioti on Covid-19 recovery priorities to remove barriers to projects and get the system working efficiently to ensure as many shovel-ready projects can either progress now or are ready to start as soon as the critical phase of the pandemic ends.

The Planning Committee assisted us to develop a series of proposals we put to the Minister last week in a meeting, including:

  • Speeding up approval times
  • Limiting changes to the Development Assessment Panel process for the time being
  • Enabling universal e-lodgement of development applications and permits
  • Developing a protocol to enable use of private consultants to speed up referral agency reports, freeing up departmental resources to speed up approval times
  • The formation of a Significant Projects Committee to support economic recovery
  • Convening a committee of senior decision makers within a single forum to resolve approval issues
  • Suspending the collection of all fees for development applications and building permits until settlement to aid developer cashflow
  • Suspending the collection of developer contribution plan fees for 12 months to aid cashflow
  • Introducing an accountability mechanism to direct local government to spend DCP funds

The suggestions, many of them at low or no cost, are designed to create certainty for industry, support jobs, create new jobs, remove impediments to construction projects and generate economic activity in WA.

A number of Property Council suggestions have already been adopted by the Planning Minister. These include the 2-year extension to development approvals and providing guidance to local governments with respect to expediting Development Application decisions.

Additionally, the Planning Minister has also amended the Local Planning Scheme regulations to allow her to issue exemptions notices and other orders that reduce the regulatory burden in cases where quick decisions or operations are needed to response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The first of these exemption notices was issued last week, which included the blanket 2-year extension to development approvals and a waiving of a range of planning considerations and requirements for developments deemed essential services during the pandemic.