Page 1793 - Week 05 - Thursday, 16 May 2019

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Planning and Development (Design Review Panel) Amendment Bill 2019

Mr Gentleman, pursuant to notice, presented the bill, its explanatory statement and a Human Rights Act compatibility statement.

Title read by Clerk.

MR GENTLEMAN (Brindabella—Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Minister for Planning and Land Management, Minister for Police and Emergency Services and Minister assisting the Chief Minister on Advanced Technology and Space Industries) (10.49): I move:

That this bill be agreed to in principle.

I am pleased to present the Planning and Development (Design Review Panel) Amendment Bill 2019. The bill seeks to establish a single, independent design review panel process for significant development proposals at the predevelopment application stage. Establishing this process is the result of consistent feedback from our community for the need to achieve the best possible design of our buildings and public spaces across the city.

I am pleased to add that establishing the design review panel was also an action in my 2015 statement of planning intent. Establishing a single design review panel in the ACT will allow for greater potential to attract the best urban planning practitioners and designers from across Australia to contribute to better design outcomes for development proposals in Canberra. Also, where the National Capital Authority has a role, the ACT government has partnered with the NCA to ensure that consistent advice is provided for development proposals and that efficiencies can be achieved through our dual development application processes.

Known as the National Capital Design Review Panel, the NCDRP, the design review panel process has been operating with an interim function since late 2017, and I am pleased to report that many successes have being achieved on major projects in the city centre and around our town centres. The interim design review panel has provided the opportunity for government to test and to refine the design review process to ensure that the NCDRP is beneficial for government, developers and the design industry.

While the interim panel’s advice is achieving positive outcomes, there is currently no statutory or regulatory requirement for development proposals to be presented to the panel or that the panel’s advice be formally considered through the development application process. This bill will offer a clear and structured process to support industry and the decision-makers to deliver high quality, well-designed developments and public spaces.

To understand how design review panel processes work across Australia, the Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate, or EPSDD, and the


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