changing the planning and environment act

report from the roundtable – 9 feb

At this week’s meeting council endorsed our submission to the Planning Minister, Justin Madden, on the proposed changes to the Planning and Environment Act.

The proposed changes are currently in the form of a Bill that was released for consultation in December 2009.

Many of the proposed changes will have serious negative impacts on the role of local government. The changes will see the further erosion of local democracy and the removal of citizen’s voices in relation to planning matters.

One of the suggested changes was to give equal consideration of environmental, economic and social considerations when assessing planning applications. The Yarra Ranges Council strongly opposes this change. This change would significantly weaken environmental considerations when assessing planning applications and would result in a compromise in environmental values and have a flow on detrimental effect on our environment.

The proposed changes would also see council’s position weakened when negotiating with applicants. Council is the local planning authority and these changes seek to diminish our role in facilitating the democratic process.

Local governments across Victoria also have significant concerns about the proposed changes. I hope the Minister is listening, there are a lot of councils against what’s proposed here.

If you’d like to read a copy of council’s submission click here.