The Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate is calling on Canberrans to help make the Territory’s planning system more accessible and easier to navigate.
Opening the draft Planning Bill 2022 for comment, the Directorate said the current planning legislation had grown complex and cumbersome as changes had been added in a piecemeal way over time.
“We are proposing a new Planning Bill to establish a reformed planning system that can deliver good planning, design and development outcomes across the ACT,” the Directorate said.
It said the Bill would put people at the heart of the planning system by focussing on liveability, prosperity and wellbeing; be an opportunity to build a planning system that promoted great planning, design and development outcomes; and support a reformed planning system that was transparent, simple and easy to use.
The Directorate said this would allow industry, environmental groups and the community to have trust and confidence in the new system and ensure the “right type” of investment and development was encouraged.
Welcoming the draft Bill, Minister for Planning and Land Management, Mick Gentleman said the draft proposed key changes to the planning system, set up under the existing Planning and Development Act 2007, while retaining the features that had worked well under the current system.
“With public consultation on the draft Bill open for three months, we want to capture feedback from the community and industry more widely on the proposed policy positions,” Mr Gentleman said.
“The new Planning Act will give effect to the key policy directions that were outlined in the review phase of the Planning System Review and Reform Project,” he said.
“It will set the framework for a simpler planning system that’s focused on outcomes rather than prescriptive development rules.”
Mr Gentleman said the draft Bill, open for comment until 15 June, marked the start of the next stage in the project, “shifting from ‘review’ to ‘reform’ phases of work”.
“Clear provisions for achieving these outcomes in the Bill will support a reformed planning system that encourages the right type of investment and development, rather than impose barriers,” he said.
The 466-page draft Bill can be accessed at this PS News link and the 57-page Planning Bill and policy overview paper at this link.
