News & Discussion: Planning & Building Regulations

[Howie]

His obiter dictum - yes, I thought it would be helpful to get hold of that too. What is it, by the way?

It's the judges comments or reasons for the judgement he/she hands down. In a precedent case, subsequent cases will take into account the obiter dictum of the precedent.

[rhino]

Aaaahhhh - yes! Thankyou Howie.

[monotonehell]

Aaaahhhh - yes! Thankyou Howie.

Spot the former business law student
Sorry rhino, next time I won't assume everyone can speak Latin

[Howie]

The rumour mills have been talking of a *major* reform of planning system... appears as though Foley has hinted at it in the 2008/2009 Budget Announcement. So an announcement in the next 6 months will be imminent.

Watch this space!

[Howie]

For those who don't have audio at work... Foley says :

"$8 million to improve South Australian's Planning and Development System. Over the course of the next month or so you'll will see the government announce a significant reform to planning in this state. A project that we've been at work now for well over 12 months that will revolutionize the way we plan, and our planning system works in this state."

[cruel_world00]

Lay-mans terms, this means what?

[crawf]

Hopefully it means height restrictions will be lifted in the CBD.

[Howie]

Hopefully it means the height restrictions lifted in CBD.

Hopefully

[Will Derwent]

I think we are looking at something far more mundane. Streamlining of approval processes across the state to improve investor confidence and reduce delays in planning approval processes. I think the Adelaide Review has been running stories on this on how it will 'reduce the capability for local residents to block innapropriate development'. Which is surely a good thing.

[Howie]

Thanks for the headsup on the Adelaide Review article. I'll post it here for everyone's benefit.

YOUR SUBURB AND ITS PART IN THE STATE PLAN

http://www.adelaidereview.com.au/featur ... m=&ucat=16&

The State Government is set to change planning and development rules so that its strategic plan can be seen to start delivering results on population growth.

By Alana Smith

South Australia’s Strategic Plan emerged in 2003 when the Rann Government set new goals to 2050. But already some of them have been proven to be so optimistic that government policy chiefs believe that they can only be achieved if land and housing development policy is radically changed. Population growth targets of two million by 2050 are particularly at risk.

A key strategy will be to release more land and soften council rules for development assessment to fast-track new work, including new housing. This will replace a system where orderly planning is locally driven to suit the circumstances of the communities in which the policy is implemented. A council revolt is anticipated.

In late April a confidential report written by a top level government committee was quietly circulated to the State Opposition, the Property Council, the Planning Institute and Master Builders’ Association, to get them onside before the announcement. The Liberal Opposition borrowed extensively from the government’s report to announce its own plan. By mid-May, pro-development bodies had pounced on the idea, well aware of the enormous profit potential if the rules are softened.

The report outlining the changes was so sensitive that the PR tender briefing focused on interstate firms. A Perth-based firm has won the contract to sell the Adelaide message.

“As South Australia needs to grow its population to two million by 2050 to stay competitive, the implications of constrained land supply and backlogs in housing approvals are clear,” the report says.

“SA needs to remove systemic flaws that cost time and money and implement a development system that fosters prosperity through the creation of compact, affordable, liveable developments.

“[Changes] will cut nearly 70 per cent from the average approval time for a family home and slash red tape costs by $75.6 million a year. Not only will the reforms bring SA into line with national best practice, they will create the most competitive system in Australasia by guaranteeing 30-working-day approval times for most residential homes; taking 18 months off land rezoning times; and guaranteeing a 25-year supply of land for jobs and housing.”

The report claims that the South Australia’s Strategic Plan is hindered by a slow planning system which blocks key targets of “housing a growing population, providing infrastructure for an expanding workforce and managing the associated water security and climate change issues”. It blames skyrocketing land prices on “a complex interaction of macro-economic forces” that have “conspired to lift land prices 300 per cent between 1993 and 2006”. “Melbourne now enjoys a $31,000 absolute price advantage over Adelaide.”

However, it says nothing of the government’s Land Management Corporation’s years of restrictions on land supply which, according to many builders, have caused the problem. In a shock move, the LMC’s role is set to be sidelined to project management and “land assembly of inner-city sites”. On low infrastructure growth, it has been lack of government initiative, not the planning system, that has seen very few projects since the Rann Government won office in 2002.

The report says that the key to increasing access to land supply and fast-tracking approvals will be to force councils to adopt the approach. “These reforms hinge on the development of a deeper partnership between the State and local governments. They require extensive collaboration in setting strategy, streamlining assessment and collectively monitoring the performance of the planning system.”

The Local Government Association has been briefed and the PR firm will focus significant energy on defusing local council discontent. In some councils, for example, there is a view that the new policy, if adopted, would fundamentally change the implied legal independence of their development plan evolutionary processes, because it would over-ride local visions for managing (and controlling) development growth.

But the government bureaucrats are clear that councils will have to toe the line. “The transformation of the planning system from a rule-bound, rule-focused, process-driven one to a sophisticated, strategy driven enabler of the state’s economic, social and environmental potential is pivotal to the committee’s recommendations,” the report chirps.

[Norman]

Sounds good to me. Time to end the rule of the NIMBYs

Is this what Brisbane did to shut NIMBYs out, or was that almagation?

[Will Derwent]

I thought I would post this announcement for everyone's reading:

House buyers to benefit from red tape cuts
(From the Advertiser)

GREG KELTON
June 10, 2008 12:00am


NEW home buyers will save up to $5000 on the cost of their houses under new planning laws which will also streamline development along major transport corridors.

The State Government believes the changes, which follow a 12-month review, will boost the state's economy by as much as $1 billion a year.

Under the proposals, the Government will take control of major development areas along transport corridors and also adopt a new planning approval code which will see housing approval times slashed by weeks. Savings for home buyers will come from a proposed new residential building code which will see local council approval given as soon as a number of basic criteria are met, as occurs in Victoria.

Between 50 per cent and 75 per cent of all planning approvals would fall under this new code, which the industry says will ease the backlog in the planning process. Premier Mike Rann predicted savings through red tape reductions would save the housing industry $62 million a year.

During last year's federal election campaign, both Kevin Rudd and then prime minister John Howard said state government red tape was a major factor in the housing affordability crisis.

Mr Rann said the planning reforms would promote more housing and community development along key transport corridors.

"The planning system needs to be reformed to make SA even more competitive, as well as deliver better environmental outcomes and liveable suburbs and neighbourhoods," he said.

"The planning reforms will promote more housing and community development along key transport corridors and our strong and historic investment in public transport will provide the basis for this new, exciting approach."

The move follows a $2 billion transport infrastructure plan outlined in last week's state Budget under which the metropolitan rail service would be electrified and the tram line extended to the Adelaide Entertainment Centre and then on to Port Adelaide and Semaphore.

The Government's vision for transport corridors is based on urban rail development plans of Portland, Oregon, in the U.S., which Mr Rann has visited twice in recent years.

In Portland, new light rail corridors were used to attract business and housing projects, with one section of track in 2005 resulting in 50 new businesses opening.

Since 2007, the Property Council has been lobbying the Government to develop better public transport and higher-density housing in key areas to prepare for planned population growth.

In April, the council released a blueprint pinpointing Port Adelaide, Glenelg and Marion, as well as Cheltenham Park, as providing the best opportunities for transport-oriented developments.

The review, announced in June last year, was chaired by Labor MP Michael O'Brien with committee members including Michael Hickinbotham, Fiona Roche and Grant Belchamber from the Economic Development Board, Tim Jackson and Stuart Moseley from local government and planning law expert Jamie Botten. Local Government Association executive director Wendy Campagna said councils were not aware of what was contained in the Government's plans.

"But the key thing for us is the character of communities and the look of suburbs along transport corridors is protected," she said. "They are things we will be wanting to talk to our communities about. Anything which speeds up the system within Government and main developments, we have to talk seriously about."

Property Council state director Nathan Paine said the council had been pushing for the Government to have overall control over planning in transport corridor areas.

"We don't want hodge-podge planning development," he said. "We need a system which does not allow one council to approve certain developments but the council next door not agreeing to the same plans.

This can only be unambiguously a good thing. Cheaper houses and streamlined development processes - its a win win really. The change from a positive approval process (you don't build until we say so) to an automatic approval process (provided it meets criteria, you just build it) is a big difference. The next question is how big are these transport corridors, where do they go, and what is the precise detail behind all this?

[Wayno]

not sure this will create cheaper housing. A large % of people (even those on extremely tight budgets) may use this opportunity to up-size just a little bit more...

[Londo Mollari]

Premier Media Release

Tuesday 10 June 2008
PLANNING REFORMS TO BOOST SA’S ECONOMY
Premier Mike Rann has this morning foreshadowed far reaching changes to South Australia’s planning and development system, to be announced by the Minister for Planning, the Hon Paul Holloway, later today.
Mr Rann says the changes will give South Australia the most efficient planning system anywhere in Australia.
“According to research commissioned by our Planning and Development Review Steering Committee, the soon to be announced reforms will provide a boost of almost $5 billion to the South Australian economy over five years and will go a long way to help make housing more affordable, and urban development more environmentally sustainable.
“The review states that implementation of its recommendations – the overwhelming majority of which have been accepted by the government – will provide savings through reductions in red tape of over $75 million and save the housing industry $62 million a year.
“The reforms are believed to boost affordability by delivering savings for homeowners by up to $5,000.
“The planning system needs to be reformed to make South Australia even more competitive, as well as deliver better environmental outcomes and liveable suburbs and neighbourhoods.
“These reforms are complemented perfectly by my government’s decision in last Thursday’s budget to invest $2 billion over the next 10 years to fund a transport revolution. The centrepiece of that investment will be the electrification, extension and rebuilding of our rail and light-rail transport infrastructure.
“The planning reforms will promote more housing and community development along key transport corridors, and our strong and historic investment in public transport will provide the basis for this new exciting approach.
“The drive to efficiency and cutting of red tape embodied in these reforms will also complement the budget measures designed to enhance business competitiveness, such as the suite of tax reductions that amount to nearly $3 billion by mid 2012 and, in particular, the cut in the payroll tax rate to 4.95 percent from mid next year and lifting of the payroll tax threshold to $600,000. This will give South Australia the second lowest payroll tax regime in Australia, equal to that of Victoria”, Mr Rann said.

[muzzamo]

This sounds like fantastic policy to me. This, coupled with a severe correction/flattening of the speculative mania that has driven house prices over the last few years could be enough to give the next generation a decent start to life.