Local planning forum addresses growth issues

Planning Control vs Population Growth

In the game of ping pong between Planning Control and Population Growth, there is a small ball that gets a lot of punishment. These two issues were certainly bounced around at a pre-election planning forum organised by the Lane Cove Planning Alliance at the end of October 2018.

The meeting was well attended by the local community, who heard from Hon. Anthony Roberts, MP for Lane Cove and NSW Planning Minister; Andrew Zbik, Lane Cove Labour nominee; Pam Palmer, Mayor of Lane Cove; David Shoebridge, MLC Greens spokesperson for planning; together with representatives of the Greater Sydney Commission and Department of Planning. The event certainly flushed out local concerns on the big issues - and a few hitches in terms of development responsibilities in the political hierarchy! Lane Cove Council had requested a moratorium on the new medium-density planning proposals, and to extend the submissions period for St Leonards and Crows Nest Draft 2036 Plan (now agreed). While Anthony Roberts indicated the ultimate responsibility for these decisions was not in his department, feedback during the forum from the Acting CEO of the Greater Sydney Commission suggested it might be – and a fact checking exercise might be in order. Mayor Pam Palmer gave an overview on local planning in our ‘hood; the deferral of that medium density code; an update of the LEP to reflect provision for an extra 3,900 units by 2021; and the St Leonards South masterplan for 2036 that envisaged further significant population increase. Traffic issues, shortfall in infrastructure and public transport were all emphasised as critical areas needing to be addressed by all levels of government to overcome growing community anxiety about living in Sydney. Labour candidate Andrew Zbik expressed concern on how gateway process has eroded public confidence in the planning system; local community has lost control over the process; and proposed a cessation of changes to controls until infrastructure catches up. On immigration policy he spoke also of the disconnect between national and state strategies, and how affordable housing for key workers and local bushland character were always vulnerable when the development lobby pulled strings. Planning confusion was also picked up by the Greens’ David Shoebridge, and that this worked to the benefit of developers with frequent appeals on adverse decisions and zoning, and minimal pretention of community consultation. With the ‘gateway’ process taking away Council’s role in planning consents, the need for design review panels and maintaining the urban tree canopy were other critical issues raised. Anthony Roberts acknowledged that Sydney planning had been reactive rather than proactive, but stated community consultation was now enshrined in the EPA. This would hopefully enable input on future visions overseen by the Greater Sydney Commission to ‘enhance and preserve what makes our community so great’. But while the Sydney North Regional Plan has provision for community input to character and infrastructure in this process, the concern is it may be too little and too late – and still have push back from the property industry. Property Council of Australia CEO Ken Morrison recently stated both Australian residents and migrants would "continue to be overwhelmingly attracted to the opportunities presented by our biggest cities, so we need positive plans for these cities as well as our other major cities. It’s not their size that matters; it’s how well they’ve been planned.” “A growing population is an overwhelming economic and social benefit for Australia and we should be ambitious in our planning for it.” 2019 certainly looks packed with more fireworks and agendas that will be of interest to us all, and we can only hope that looming elections might deliver a more balanced outcome between population and planning issues! 

Words by Jon Johannsen Lane Cove resident, architect and urban designer.

A pre-election planning forum organised by the Lane Cove Planning Alliance was well attended by the local community, with traffic issues, the shortfall in infrastructure and public transport emphasised as key areas needing to be addressed.