The Rockliff Liberal Government has a long term plan to ensure Tasmania is the best place to live, work and raise a family.
In July this year the Government announced the development of new legislation to allow certain development applications to be determined by an independent Development Assessment Panel, or DAP, appointed by the Tasmanian Planning Commission.
Minister for Planning, Michael Ferguson, said this will ensure that politics is taken out of planning decisions and much needed projects are properly assessed and approved where appropriate in a timely way.
"Today a DAP framework Position Paper has been released for public consultation for a 6 week period to 30 November 2023," Mr Ferguson said.
The Position Paper outlines a draft DAP framework that introduces an alternative legislative pathway for certain development applications to be determined by the new independent panels.
While the Position Paper proposes a framework, there are options which the Government is seeking feedback on to test its effectiveness and suitability before we prepare amendments to the Land Use Planning and Approvals Act.
The Position Paper also proposes an alternate pathway for the initiation of a draft planning scheme amendment in certain circumstances. There are occasions where the local council acting as a planning authority is conflicted because of its other role as an elected council. Sensible amendments to the planning scheme are being blocked for reasons other than good planning outcomes.
Minister for Planning, Michael Ferguson, added this 6 week consultation is about transparency and about listening to key stakeholders, councils and the community, so as we get the right settings for this important new pathway.
"I want to make it quite clear that the proposed DAP framework retains the community's right to make representation on developments and to be heard by the independent Planning Commission," Mr Ferguson said.
"There are examples of really important projects such as much needed social housing which are being held up for many months if not years by decisions being influenced by matters that are not relevant planning considerations. We need to fix this. We need to take local politics out of planning decisions on developments that should be assessed against the planning rules in place and nothing else.
"The framework the Government is consulting on builds on existing parts of the planning system and utilises the highly respected expert skills of the Tasmanian Planning Commission."
The framework Position Paper can be found here: www.planningreform.tas.gov.au
