So what has DPTI heard on the draft Planning, Development and Infrastructure (General) (Development Assessment) Variation Regulations 2019?

LG Leader June 2019

The draft Regulations and Practice Directions deal with many crucial aspects of our State’s new development assessment system, including development application lodgement, assessment timeframes, the assignment of relevant authorities and other technical requirements.

DPTI has released their ‘What We Have Heard Report’ responding to submissions made on the draft Regulations.

Of particular interest:

1. in response to concerns regarding the ability for land surveyors to grant planning consents to land divisions, DPTI has confirmed that the divisions which may be determined in this regard are intended to be divisions which occur after a land use has been approved. This begs the question – will the new Planning and Design Code overcome case law precedents which require that land divisions are approved and lodged for division prior to the determination of a related land use or building work application?
2. DPTI has provided the following response to requests that Certificates of Title be required to be lodged by applicants with their development applications ‘While it is noted that practitioners find information on the certificate of title to be useful, it is important to consider what matters are technically relevant to the planning assessment under the Planning Rules, and which relate to private property matters’. This response does not appreciate that provision of a Certificate of Title assists councils and other relevant authorities to identify easements and other development constraints which may render a development inappropriate. It is not uncommon for applicants to overlook easements in the design of their development application. The provision of a Certificate of Title assists in such easements being identified at the application stage and the development design being amended appropriately, therefore avoiding unintended encumbrances from occurring. We hope that DPTI reconsiders its position in this regard;
3. in response to submissions proposing amendments to regulated and significant tree provisions (which are largely a cut-and-paste from the current Development Regulations 2008), DPTI’s response is, disappointingly, ‘When the PDI Act was made, the (previous) State Government made it known that regulated tree provisions would not be subject to reform. As such, any amendments to regulated/significant tree legislation will not be progressed as part of these planning reforms’. It is clear that current inconsistencies and difficulties in administering regulated and significant tree protections introduced when the previous Government amended the Development Regulations in 2011 will remain in place in our new ‘simplified’ planning system.

We hope to see the final Regulations published soon and well ahead of the proposed 1 November 2019 start date for the new planning system in rural and regional council areas to allow sufficient time to transition properly to the new planning system.