Cardinia Shire Council, at its Monday night meeting, will hear from Westernport Ward councillor Trudi Paton, who has lodged a notice of motion to communicate concerns to the State Planning Minister around new planning rules.
Cr Paton wants the State Government to pause it’s rollout of the new laws until it consults with councils on a more co-operative planning process.
The notice of motion lists seven key concerns, many around the removal of protections, notice to the public, costs to councils and incomplete regulations.
It notes that these changes were approved without consultation with councils, and that issues around ‘conflict of interest’ were unclear.
There was also no provision in the new planning rules to require a developer to provide affordable housing where, in future, greater density was likely.
If the motion is successful, the council would write to the minister with these concerns, and also back the Municipal Association of Victoria’s position on the new planning regime, seeking the pause on rollout until consultation with councils and an agreed process could be developed.
The council will also consider a range of delegated powers to planning officers at Monday night’s council meeting, to fit in with the Victorian Government’s plans to allow 800,000 new homes over the next 10 years.
The delegations partially replace some powers recently repealed, but also allow planning officers to approve compliant housing plans under new, streamlined planning laws passed this year to speed up housing builds.
Failure to make the delegations would mean Cardinia risked breaching their State imposed obligations under the new laws.
