LOCAL COUNCILS PLANNING AUTHORITY UNDER A CLOUD

The Monash Ratepayers Association has been advised that the State Government has sneakily revised the Planning and Environment Act by changing the way amendments to planning schemes are authorised, effectively removing councils as the leading referral authority in planning.

Under this new legislation, councils are no longer a planning authority unless the Minister for Planning authorizes a particular amendment. As well as outright withdrawal of authority, this could lead to Local Councils making poor decisions out of fear of intimidation and loss of authority.

Monash Ratepayers Association understands that many Councils are also concerned that the legislation makes way for other bodies to be declared planning authorities and to be given powers to amend the planning scheme.

Candy Broad, the Minister for Local Government, has continually showed a lack of support for councils across Victoria and it has become common knowledge in many councils that planning is now firmly in the hands of State Government bureaucracy.

Candy Broad was apparently asked in Parliament last week if she supports local government being the leading referral authority for planning in this state. Her response was that, “the Bracks Government will continue to uphold the right of local government to have a role as a democratically elected level of government to make decisions about planning matters.” This statement is considered by some to be obviously in dispute given the introduction of this new legislation.

Furthermore, the Minister’s reference to ‘a role’ is considered to be very broad and probably implies a limited role. Candy Broad claims she has strengthened the Local Government Act to provide greater democracy to councils, ratepayers and residents but at the same time she has diminished Victorian local government’s role as a leading planning authority.

The Minister’s statement is littered with innuendos about the state of Local Government and its continued role as a Planning Authority. This does not bode well at all for local government if this is the Minister’s defense

Monash Ratepayers Association firmly believes that local knowledge and local input should always be the founding basis for changes to local planning schemes. We believe that the Bracks Government must amend this legislation and return to local government its role as the leading referral authority for planning in this State.

Planning is costing Local Government buckets of money in defending their decisions in VCAT, decisions that are more often than not overturned because, in spite of what VCAT chairman and chairwomen say, they no longer regard or treat Local Government as the planning authority!

As usual, the Municipal Association of Victoria (headed by Councillor Lake from the City of Monash) sits on its hands and does nothing! The MAV is supposed to be the body that defends Local Government and its silence is deafening. The MAV is finding it too hard to make a decision.

How can someone like Lake at 25 years old, with no life experience let alone planning expertise, understand the implications of this important aspect of Local Government? It is the bread and butter function around which Councils exist and any diminishing of that role starts to erode Council viability.

So what is next?

Jack Davis, Past President

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