Central Coast Council is sceptical of new rezoning rules proposed by the State Government, saying they represent “a focus on increasing the speed of rezonings at the expense of good planning processes”.
In a report tabled at the February 22 meeting and accepted by Administrator Rik Hart, Council called the strategic planning process in NSW “relatively immature” with Local Strategic Planning Statements only recently introduced and not spatial in nature.
“There is also a lack of rigour in other strategic process such as Structure Plans,” the report said.
“Consideration should be given to increasing the governance processes around other elements of strategic planning, to better articulate what might or might not be considered to have strategic merit.
“Establishing different categories for types of rezonings has merit, as does requiring better application information up front, mandatory pre-lodgement processes as well as mechanisms to ensure referral agencies respond in a timely manner.
“However, the rezoning process is just a small part of the land development process and other interventions are also necessary to meet the Government’s objectives of increasing land supply and controlling housing costs.
“Several of the proposed changes to the rezoning process simply reduce timeframes without considering resources, whether the timeframe is realistic given the steps involved, take away important planning considerations such as the strategic merit test, and add further complexity to the process through appeal mechanisms and immediate exhibition requirements.”
In December, 2021, the Department of Planning and Environment (DPE) released a discussion paper outlining a new approach to rezonings.
Council said the term “rezoning” was used rather than “planning proposals” and included both proponent-initiated and Council-initiated requests to amend a Local Environment Plan (LEP).
The new approach is part of the NSW Government’s Planning Reform Action Plan.
The action plan outlines long-term structural reform of the planning system.
Public exhibition of the discussion paper started on December 15, 2021, and concludes on February 28.
Council was invited to review the documentation and provide feedback.
The DPE also released a new LEP Making Guideline in December, 2021.
The LEP Guideline delivered immediate improvements to the existing process.
The discussion paper incorporates aspects of the new LEP Guideline.
If the framework is adopted, it will be subject to a detailed implementation plan, which will include any transitional arrangements for existing rezonings in the system.
For now, existing and future planning proposals/rezonings will follow the current process, Council said.
The Government’s proposed rezoning changes include: providing private proponents (the developer or landowner) with ownership of the rezoning application throughout the process; mandatory scoping/pre-lodgement meetings with State agencies; removal of gateway review and determination as part of the process; all rezoning proposals to be exhibited, assessed and determined, irrespective of strategic merit; exhibition to start immediately upon lodgement; implementing maximum timeframes for referrals and assessment; enforcing refunds if Council does not meet the timeframes; introducing new categories for planning proposals based on level of complexity, including different fees and assessment timeframes; allowing councils to approve some inconsistencies with Ministerial directions rather than notifying the DPE; changes to the roles of various parties in the rezoning process; and introduction of a new class of merit appeals in the Land and Environment Court.
Merilyn Vale