Backlash brewing against planning DAPs
A backlash is brewing against Development Assessment Panels with councils claiming local planning schemes years in the making are being bypassed so developers can exceed plot ratio guidelines.
Now in their fourth year, there are claims the DAPs are biased to developers, are angering communities and frustrating local governments.
The WA Local Government Association president Troy Pickard said most concerns relate to the liberal use of discretion by a DAP and the limited ability of a community to have a say in a final decision.
“If the DAP decision-making process continues to be abused and manipulated by some independent DAP members, I suspect there will be a growing trend for local governments to tighten their discretionary clauses,” Mr Pickard said.
“There also appears to have been an increase in the number of applications being considered by DAPs for residential purposes.
“DAPs were never intended to be determining residential or local matters and there is significant concern within the sector about the scope creep to the detriment of local communities.”
WA’s development industry lobbied hard for the introduction of DAPs, so that independent panels rather than local governments were making decisions about bigger developments to speed up planning approvals.
In a submission to a parliamentary inquiry into DAPs, WALGA is calling for a cost-benefit analysis that would examine how DAP time frames compare to local government determinations, the cost of the system compared with the income from applicant’s fees and determine whether the objectives have been realised.
“It is only through an independent and transparent investigation of these matters that the full picture can be show, providing an accurate assessment of whether this new decision making system is adding any value to the WA economy, or is in face a duplication, circumventing local democracy and an additional cost burden,” Mr Pickard said.
WALGA is also seeking a change in the composition of panels to include three local government members so their numbers equal the three expert members.
“There are numerous examples where the three expert members have outvoted local government members and in doing so, ignored planning provisions and community concern,” Mr Pickard said.
In its application to the Parliamentary Inquiry, the Law Society of WA recommended DAP regulations be changed to allow a right of review to any aggrieved person who has a special interest.
The Law Society also recommended changes to DAPs to prevent application shopping between panels and local governments.
In response to community concern, industry groups and civil society groups are calling for more support for infill development and housing density in Perth.
In a statement, the Property Council of Australia, The Australian Institute of Landscape Architects, the Conservation Council of WA, the WA Council of Social Services and the Heart Foundation said density was essential to reducing congestion, increasing housing affordability and improving quality of life and protecting bushland.
“Perth needs to embrace infill development and greater housing density to achieve more affordable housing choices,” said Property Council of Australia deputy executive director Lino Iacomella.
“The perfect opportunity to create more housing diversity and take advantage of existing infrastructure is to build up density around busy centres and along major transport corridors.”
WACOSS chief executive Irina Cattalini said the lack of affordable housing was pushing lower-income households to the fringes of the city where there were few jobs and little public transport and Planning Institute of Australia WA executive officer Emma De Jager said urban sprawl was placing immense pressure on infrastructure, road and public transport.
