Since 2004 I have been the President of the Local Government Association of New South Wales. The greatest challenge I have, as Mayor of North Sydney or President of the LGA – is ensuring that whatever we do in Local Government genuinely represents our communities’ informed wishes about where we want to go. Because when we go to the ballot box to have our performance assessed, the community delivers a verdict on how well they were engaged at a local level.
Only Local Government can engage the community at the level at which we can all truly make an informed judgement about what we want and whether we have achieved it.
When we at North Sydney Council developed our new Local Environment Plan (LEP), North Sydney LEP 2000, we did so based on extensive community consultation. The process was transparent, interactive, understandable and most of all, asked the community at the local level ‘what kind of place do you want to live in?’
We only have to consider the alternatives to community engagement to prove my point.
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Power and Politics in Local Planning
On 21 June 2006, Planning Minister Frank Sartor announced that the Carlton and United Brewery site would be declared State Significant Development to allow State Government control of the planning process.
The acceptable outcome sought by the State is clearly a floor space and height greater than that supported by Council, to make better use of the key transport infrastructure at this location. Bringing the project under the Minister’s ambit is required. Why would not the State take over those planning matters which are of an importance beyond the immediate local area in which they are sited?
Was the Minister justified in calling in the project? There is no clear answer but it is appropriate for the State to call in projects of State significance.
What is the Neustein solution? Enlarge the size of metropolitan councils by reducing them. With much larger electorates, and a planning focus on both the local and the sub-regional, such councils and their bodies politic would be sufficiently insulated from parochial or minor concerns so as to focus on the greater public good.
