The new ACT Planning Act is likely to be debated in the House of Assembly in June. Unless it is significantly modified it will not provide any benefits for most residents in Griffith/Narrabundah and is likely to be detrimental. We will still have no say in what can be built next door, and for large projects, pre-DA consultation has been abandoned for no reason and infill of up to four storeys in height is planned for much of our area.
The 2007 Act was clear and sensible, focusing on social, environmental and economic aspirations. The new one has two pages of waffle as its Object.
The present system suffers from poor governance. If this were fixed, we would be on the way to having an excellent system. There are three key issues:
- The planning authority keeps approving development applications that are non-compliant with the planning rules, and consequently produces poor outcomes.
- The checks on compliance are almost non-existent and developers can build whatever they want.
- The rules are overly complex and should be simplified.
The government’s listening report took a long time so we produced our own report which is available here. It guides you to submissions that are available on the government website and gives an overview of key issues.
The government’s listening report is now available. Please click here.
The planning system must ensure that the Garden City landscape and architectural principles of Canberra are maintained in all developments, particularly with respect to sustainability, and climate change. For more information relating to the new Planning Act please refer to our 2023 Issues document.