[Forum] In response to the article Council will table seven motions at LGA Conference which appeared in edition 214, one Council motion will be that building certification be taken away from private certifiers and returned to Council.
Why was it taken away from Councils in the first place if they were doing such a good job? Are we to believe that Council certifiers and planners will act more impartially than private ones? Council spend tens of thousands of dollars researching and publishing planning guidelines, LDP, environment protection, strategic planning, height restrictions, open space and many more such guidelines which are overridden by the same Council employees who thought they were necessary in the first place.
They are pressured into making so many variations to the planning rules that these variations become the norm and set precedents that are used by architects, builders and developers to make successful appeals to the Land and Environment Court, costing the Council thousands of dollars in the process.
Caught up in all the mess created by these planning decisions are individual home owners who believe these planning rules are the same for everyone, but then find that they are fighting with neighbours over a decision arbitrarily made contrary to Councils own policy, or the building code of practice. Private or Council certifiers? Same as.
Email, Aug 26. Donald Bate, Forresters Beach