Community planning services in Glenelg Shire Council : 1998-2005 ...

Appendix A. Performance improvement plan 121
FIGURE A1: PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT PLAN: STATUTORY PLANNING SERVICE
Issue Action Responsible officer Time frame
Planning process initiatives
introduced during 2004
require review.
Delegated Planning
Committee (DPC) meetings
need to be well controlled.
Planning applicants often
have no knowledge of
planning processes or
application requirements.
Councillors (collectively) are
not always aware of the
detail and complexity of
contentious planning
applications and matters.
Council has rarely received
written planning reports.
Consistency in planning
decision-making.
Councillor knowledge of
statutory planning processes
and legislative compliance
matters, state policy etc. is
limited.
Planning matters are rarely
referred to the full council for
decision.
Review effectiveness of 2004
planning process initiatives.
Introduce speaking time limits
for DPC participants (say,
maximum 10 minutes).
Develop defined chair
procedures for DPC meetings.
Review applicant instructional
material and reproduce where
necessary.
Encourage pre-application
meetings at all times.
Conduct periodic information
sessions for regular applicants.
Planning staff should
periodically brief the whole
council on contentious planning
applications and matters.
A councillor/officer workshop
should be held to discuss future
reporting needs with a focus on
determining an agreed range of
report formats for applications
with differing levels of
complexity.
A monitoring system should be
introduced. Like applications
should be randomly reviewed to
assess if decisions are
consistent.
Develop and introduce periodic
education workshops for
councillors and planners.
Consider and introduce criteria
for referrals to council – for
example: more than 6
objections; more than 8-lot
subdivisions; Aboriginal
heritage implications; specific
heritage or environmental
issues; height of developments.