The announcement by the Western Australian Government to established Development Assessment Panels is the most important reform to the State’s planning approvals process in many decades.
“The property development sector and everyone who wants sensible and fair planning processes are strong supporters of Development Assessment Panels, said the Executive Director of the Property Council of Australia, Mr Joe Lenzo.
“The Property Council of Australia strongly endorses the key principles in the Government’s implementation plan for Development Assessment Panels, announced today in a public discussion paper.”
Metropolitan development projects valued at more than $2million will be assessed and approved by expert panels. In regional areas projects worth more than $1million would also be referred to the new development assessment panels which would operate throughout the State.
The panels would include three expert members and two local government representatives
“The plan for Development Assessment Panels outlined by the Government will streamline the approvals process. It will also remove the politics from the local government development assessment process.
“The expert panels will determine development applications according to their merits and how they measure up to planning policies. Unfortunately too many development applications today end up in the State Administrative Tribunal because of the difficult approvals processes in some local governments.
“Expert panels are also better equipped with the technical expertise to determine complex development applications.
“The reform of the development assessment process comes at exactly the right time as WA is gearing up for more infrastructure projects and developments associated with the resources sector. This will enable WA to avoid the approvals blockages that frustrated State development in the boom years,” said Mr Lenzo.
