New Planning Laws Reduce Community Say About Developments

Submitted by Lynn MacLaren on Mon, 17/05/2010 - 16:07

Greens MLC Lynn MacLaren has welcomed the backlash against proposed changes to the planning laws, which will see communities having very little say about large scale developments in their neighbourhood.  

“The proposed planning reform is a step backwards for community consultation in the planning process for large scale developments. It takes away council discretion, which is a worrying development”, said Lynn MacLaren, MLC for the South Metropolitan Region and Greens WA spokesperson for Planning. 

“Under the guise of ‘cutting red tape’, elected councils will no longer have the same power to represent their community and make subjective decisions in the planning process.  It’s just a green light for developers to build without community support.

 “A much better outcome was achieved at the Leighton development. The local community were strongly involved in working with the local council to improve on the original plans and provide an outcome. In the end, we got a much better development and retained more public parks and beach access.

“This proposed planning reform is not the way forward. We need a planning system that fosters innovation, sustainability and community participation in the local planning process. We still lack statutory protection of our remaining biodiversity, wetlands and urban bushland. The proposed planning reform system does not provide this”, added Ms MacLaren.