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

Did the council comply with key legislative, planning scheme and other requirements? 65
The council advised us that, historically, DPOs had been established in
areas experiencing major growth to:
guide the future development of the land in the area covered by the
overlay
reduce the time taken to approve planning permits by removing the
notice and review processes normally required.
However, by requiring that the development plans be incorporated into the
planning scheme, the council effectively stalled the planning approval
process. It was suggested to us that the requirement to incorporate the
development plans into the scheme was an administrative mistake.
It could be argued that when the DPOs were established, the council was
attempting to facilitate community input into planning decisions through
the extensive public consultation that accompanies any amendment to the
planning scheme. This public consultation would have helped ensure
community involvement on occasions when both the DPOs and associated
zones (like the Business 1 zone) remove the normal public notice and
review processes.
Findings of our review
Our review disclosed that:
the council has not established development plans for any of its 6 DPOs
some 330 permits have been issued in areas covered by these DPOs and
there is a risk that some may be technically invalid (in that the permit
does not comply with the requirements of the planning scheme).
These permits cover the construction of buildings for various land uses,
extensions of dwellings, garages and verandahs, and subdivisions of land.
Although we did not undertake a detailed review of these 330 permits, a
number of permits are likely to have been issued that are not in accordance
with the planning scheme. These include a drag racing strip, a waste
recycling plant situated close to residential areas, and subdivision of land
for residential purposes close to the airport without adequate
consideration of the noise.
The council’s planning contractor advised us that he was aware of the need
to set up development plans for each of the council’s DPOs, and that the
issue had been raised with the council in May 1999 and on a number of
subsequent occasions over the past 5 years. Details of these are outlined
below:
The planning contractor developed a Guiding Principles Plan for the
shire’s rural living zoned areas. This was subsequently adopted by
council. At this meeting, it was agreed that the Guiding Principles Plan
would form the basis of a development plan for these areas (May 1999).