The NSW Planning System Tips on Facilitation Temporary Tourist Land Uses
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September 2012 September Issue No. 92 Issue new planner The NSW planning system Tips on facilitation Temporary tourist land uses ISSN 1324-8669 PP a233-867-00015 a balancing act PIA NSW State Conference 2012 Date: Conference Thursday 18 & Friday 19 October Welcome Reception Wednesday 17th October Conference Dinner Thursday 18th October Place: The Glasshouse Arts, Conference & Entertainment Centre, Port Macquarie Be involved: • Visit the website to find out latest news; • Note the conference dates in your diary and register; • Northern Region planners are invited to contribute to conference organization; • Become a conference supporter through one of the many sponsorship opportunities. More information: There will be regular updates on our website www.planning.org.au/nsw and in the fortnightly eNews or email [email protected] Contents IssueThis 83 issue contents Guest Editorial - David Winterbottom 4 Transforming development assessment 18 President’s Message 5 International Snippets 20 Executive Officer’s Report 6 Inbox 21 Streamlining the System - Changing the Planning for Temporary Tourist Land Rules or Changing Culture 7 Uses in NSW 22 Norton Rose Review 8 Tips on Facilitation 24 Planning Perspectives 9 Transports of Delight 25 The times, they are a changin’ 10 BasePlan 26 In the Courts 11 NSW Consulting Planners 28 Infrastructure Matters 12 Opinion - Planning Follies 30 Healthy built environments @ Rio+20 13 In the news 34 Making plans with communities, Snapped - The Shard, London 35 not just for them 14 2012 NSW Planners’ Winter Dinner 16 Editorial Team Brigitte Buchholz Nicole Philps Andrew Wheeler Each quarter New Planner invites a Guest Editor to comment on the theme of that issue. Editorial NSW Executive Officer Deadline PO Box 484, North Sydney NSW 2059 Copy for December 2012 edition : The Year in Review 1101, 221 Miller St, North Sydney NSW 2060 due Friday 26 October 2012. Tel: 02 8904 1011 Fax: 02 8904 1133 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Design and Production Nationwide Advertising Group The views expressed in New Planner Tel: 02 9955 4777 Fax 02 9955 7055 are those of the authors and do not Email: [email protected] necessarily reflect the views of the Cover Photo: Steve O’Connor Planning Institute of Australia. Lombard Street, San Francisco Subscriptions 2012 New Planner is available on subscription to non members of PIA NSW at a cost of $88 per annum,GST inclusive. Email: [email protected] newplanner | SEPTEMBER 2012 | 3 Editorial David Winterbottom Guest Editorial Improving Planning Processes and Practices Quite apart from this introspective requirement, tended to stifle initiatives by local communities to we need to take a broader view of the role of tailor controls to their needs and requirements. planning within society. Planners ought to be The recent suggestion to allow sub-zones may agents for change not mere regulators. This go some way to overcoming this and it will be is particularly relevant in local government interesting to see what comes out of Planning where the scope for influencing events seems Review in terms of the balance between to be far greater than in State government or uniformity and legitimate local variation. the private sector. That means, for instance, Finally, the nitty-gritty of managing the development initiating projects and programmes, actively assessment process is in a constant state of flux. The theme of this edition goes to the heart seeking development and not just waiting for it “Best practice” advice must, of necessity, be general to pop up to be assessed, however much such rather than specific. Every Council is different and of planning. We have a new Planning Act an approach is frowned upon by ICAC (I confess about to be legislated and that offers a needs to develop its own procedures. By far the best to always having had some reservations about way of doing this is through a quality management wonderful opportunity to break away from the propriety of having an organisation which programme of constant incremental improvement the current rather sorry performance of is investigator, prosecutor, judge and jury to based on data and inclusive involvement of all those the planning system in this State. standards of the balance of probabilities). actually using the system. However, simply changing the rules will not At the same time it is crucial that we practice two This should extend to post development necessarily result in changing the culture. To do key principals. First, as John Mant has persistently assessments. The worth of the system can only that we all need to look at the way we do things advocated, we must plan with the community be measured by outcomes but we only rarely and think again. Local government should not just for them. The traditional method of review these in a rational way. This is the key become less paranoid about risk. Consultants researching and preparing a plan, seeking public to judging whether the controls need tweaking, should pay more attention to good planning comments, and then ignoring them because or if the monitoring of the construction phase outcomes and less to what they think their we planning experts know best, is doomed to is adequate, or the effort in achieving changes clients can get away with. Academics should failure. Unfortunately preparing plans with the to the original designs was worth it. Only if the play a far more active role in the public arena. community takes time and effort; not to do so will development satisfies occupiers or operators, State government should spend far more time cost the community far more in the long term. those living or working next door, and the on strategy, guidelines and research and far less One of the tragedies of the “Standard template” broader community can the planning system be on micro-managing. for Local Environmental Plans is that it has said to have delivered the desired resultn President’s message Sarah Hill, President PIA NSW Division editorial Lessons from New York City: Three Key Considerations in Transforming Sydney started with the basics – we got our team – and most importantly we need to better in order pulling together our transport understand our communities and take and traffic experts, our strategic and them on the strategic planning journey with development assessment planners, our us. Last but certainly not least we need to housing department and property team to know what is viable so that our plans can create a whole of government approach and do become reality. to the negotiation and assessment of development applications. Our Leaders need to implement the Plan Similar to NSW, we got our budget in order Recently I was asked by the NSW – it was not quite the budget of NSW but we Quite simply this third consideration relates Department of Planning and pooled our resources and put planning at to the pivotal role leadership plays in Infrastructure to speak at their the centre, similar to the recent approach transforming a city. Urban Conversations Event on the taken by the NSW State Government in the Last year I coordinated a series of topic of Transforming Sydney. Whilst 2012/2013 State Budget. workshops with members of the Planning preparing for the talk, I recalled an And most importantly of all, we got our Institute, local and state government as article I had come across whilst I culture right – we adopted a ‘can do’ well as private developers regarding the culture of planning. was doing some research about Rudy attitude that found solutions rather than road blocks. Giuliani, a man commonly attributed A very strong and resounding message As a direct result of these simple changes from the workshops was the desire of the with transforming another great professionals attending to be the creators Global City – New York. we achieved great social and economic change including the regeneration of some and leaders of a vision for our city. This In keeping with the Event’s international of Europe’s largest housing estates and, of desire was commonly cited as a key reason theme and the North American focus of course, the approval of the London Olympics why they first chose to become a planner. its keynote speaker, Professor Edward including (most importantly of all for us and These professionals wanted to work with Glaeser, I drew out what I thought was the people of East London) its legacy. the communities to create plans that quite a pertinent quote from the article You need to plan for growth and gave hope. What had worn many of these about the experience of transforming provide hope professionals down, however, was the cities. In it, Mayor Giuliani quite succinctly negative culture of planning which created stated: “you can’t do everything at once, It always strikes me that a good problem blame, frustration and litigation. This so if somebody or some group is providing for a planner to have is the need to plan for culture hindered their visions for growth leadership, they are basically laying out a growth and, in turn, development. It’s funny and change and is often summed up in an plan … for how to improve the city over a but often as a planner I see people wince Australian context as ‘nimbyism’. period of time, that people can buy into, that when I say I have a presumption in favour they can believe in … If there is no plan then of positive development – they wince at This challenge has been shared by you are not generating any hope that things the word development as if it is a negative NYC (and in fact many cities around the are going to get better in the future” thing, a greedy thing – something that world).