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

92 Did the council have appropriate management arrangements for the delivery of its planning services?
4.7 Policies, procedures and guidelines to support
the planning function
The council is responsible for making sure appropriate policies, procedures
and guidelines are developed to support the planning function.
Council planners use these documents to make consistent decisions in line
with the planning scheme and other requirements.
Responsibility for the development of these policies, guidelines and strategies
was assigned to the council’s planning contractor.
4.7.1 Conclusion
Our review disclosed that, for most of the period in which the planning
services were contracted out, policies and procedures for the planning
function had not been documented. Nor was any formal guidance given to
the planning contractor to help them perform the council’s planning function.
The council developed detailed planning procedures in August 2004.
4.8 Monitoring and assessing the performance of the
planning function
The council should periodically monitor and assess how well it performs its
planning activities, just as it would monitor and assess all major activities.
This is an opportunity to reinforce good practice, correct problems and learn
from any mistakes.
A number of external and internal reviews of the planning function have been
conducted in recent years. These include:
2003 Best Value review
community satisfaction survey
Glenelg Shire Council internal review
2004 solicitor’s review.