The Government's plan to neuter councils

If Planning Minister John Day gets his way, pretty soon every new hotel, apartment complex, pub, restaurant or house worth more than $2 million (or $1 million in the country) in your neighbourhood will be built following approval from not the local council but a group of experts on a panel.

In one of the biggest overhauls of the State's planning approvals system, the local councils, which are made up of community members elected to represent ratepayers, will no longer have the final say in the most significant developments in their districts.

Instead only two members of any council will be allowed to sit on the panel, along with three "experts" that are likely to come from fields such as architecture, engineering and planning.

Up to 15 panels are planned throughout the State with one dedicated assessment panel for the City of Perth and another five joint metropolitan panels working across multiple local government areas.

For councils, it means that soon, there is every likelihood the each new high-rise complex, shopping centre or beachfront development in their municipality will be decided by at least three people who likely to live nowhere near that planned high-rise complex, shopping centre or beachfront development.

Mr Day says it's about time the State's planning processes were overhauled given the "costly and time consuming" duplication which currently exists between local councils and the State's planning arm, the WA Planning Commission.

He also says that local councils will still have their say. But the numbers speak for themselves - three against two usually wins.

Tellingly, the Minister says the level of planning and technical expertise in assessing development applications also needs to be improved - no doubt a dig at ridiculous, drawn-out decisions and justifications coming out of some councils when they knock back developments.

Not surprisingly councils are lining up to pan the proposal, fearing they will soon have planning control over little more than the corner store - if, in fact, you can build one these days for less than $2 million.

An example of some of the more recent high-profile developments that would be taken out of councils' hands under the panels system include Stan Quinlivan's Ocean Beach Hotel redevelopment in Cottesloe and Marilyn New's Woolstores redevelopment in Fremantle - neither of which were approved by the respective councils resulting in costly appeals and in the end, no development.

The City of Perth has been arguably the policy's strongest critic and Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi has made no apologies for wanting planning control over big developments in the capital to remain squarely with the council.

After all, a big portion of the applications it decides on are worth much more than the $2 million threshold Mr Day has set. Just last week three major projects in the CBD - a 17-storey office and retail building on St Georges Terrace, an 11-storey mixed-use development on Plain Street and an eight-storey mixed-use development on Hay Street - were given the nod by the council and all three would be referred to the expert panels.

The property industry is rejoicing at the news that their dealings with local councils will soon be significantly reduced. Developers often regard councils as the bane of their existence as they deal with the multitude of minor amendments, design changes and flat out refusals that come their way.

Wanneroo mayor Jon Kelly says this is why the existing system is so robust. He says at least an entire council is accountable to its electors, who can boot it out at the next election if they're unhappy with what it's been doing.

The same can't be said for the expert panels, whose members will be selected by the Government.

Who do you want deciding the developments in your neighbourhood? Have you had a bad planning experience with your local council?