North Shore councils push back as Minns government aims to reduce public consultation on developments

Local residents will no longer have a say on new flat buildings and shop-top housing developments in their area, as the Department of Planning moves to overhaul public consultation across the state.

What happened: Whenever a significant development goes ahead in New South Wales — whether that be a suburban home installing a pool or a 50-storey tower — those plans are required to go out for public consultation. 

A public… what? A public consultation involves alerting all nearby residents, businesses and those likely to be affected by any changes of a development, so they can give their feedback before work goes ahead. 

For example: When McDonald’s proposed opening a franchise in Crows Nest last year, more than 60 local residents wrote in opposing the development on a number of grounds. The application was eventually withdrawn. They were made aware of this proposed development because it had gone out for public consultation.

A complicated system: Currently, community consultation is managed via differing systems for each of NSW’s 128 local councils. 

• In April, the NSW Department of Planning put forward a plan to simplify this system, bringing it under one consistent, state-wide approach. But it comes with a few caveats.

The new system would exempt a number of projects from consultation processes entirely, such as residential flat buildings or shop-top housing. 

Instead, these projects will only need to give nearby residents a seven-day heads up before construction begins.

• Smaller-scale renovations — pools, sheds and additions to existing dwellings — will also no longer need to go out for public exhibition.

Not happy: Last week, Hornsby Shire Council made its discontent with the changes known. 

🗣️ “The community expects transparency when it comes to development and planning decisions”, said Mayor Warren Waddell. 

Ku-ring-gai Council has also prepared a letter of objection to the proposal, which regards several of the exemptions as “unsuitable”. Ku-ring-gai councillors will vote on Tuesday evening whether to endorse this letter. 

Both councils agree there is merit in the larger proposal of a streamlined, statewide approach to consultation. 

The proposed plan itself is currently on public exhibition until June 3.