Page 2912 - Week 09 - Thursday, 18 September 2014

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One way or another, this is an amateur, and I would say embarrassing, episode—yet another in the course of capital metro and Minister Corbell’s management of this portfolio. I hope he supports the amendment.

Debate (on motion by Mr Rattenbury) adjourned to a later hour.

Executive members’ business—precedence

Ordered that executive members’ business be called on.

Planning and Development (Call-in Power) Amendment Bill 2014

Mr Rattenbury, pursuant to notice, presented the bill and its explanatory statement.

Title read by Clerk.

MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo) (11.06): I move:

That this bill be agreed to in principle.

This is a very short and simple bill that amends the Planning and Development Act 2007 to introduce a new requirement in relation to the use of the planning minister’s call-in power. This bill inserts a new requirement that the minister cannot approve a development application through a call-in decision unless the proponent of the development proposal has met the set requirements for pre-DA community consultation.

Current pre-development application consultation requirements are that the proponent must consult with the community through the use of public meetings, consultation with community councils, letterbox drops or other similar processes. However, this requirement currently only applies to building proposals of three or more storeys, more than 15 dwellings, with a gross floor area over 5,000 square metres, or for a proposal for deconcessionalisation.

My proposal creates an incentive for any proponent who suspects that their proposal may be controversial, or is likely to be called in by the minister, to undertake consultation before they have lodged their plans with ACTPLA. Encouraging this early consultation helps developers understand what the community’s concerns may be before finalising their plans and helps them adjust their proposals accordingly before lodging them.

Since pre-DA consultation became a mandatory requirement for other larger developments in 2011 there has been less community opposition to such developments. The requirements for early consultation became mandatory in the ACT planning system to address concerns the community had with proposals that appeared with very little notice and that they could not influence or respond to sufficiently in a timely manner.


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