Planning director confident improvements are occurring
Better communication and improved processes are the key to improving Baw Baw Shire’s condemned planning department, according to planning and development director Leanne Hurst.
Six months since her appointment, Ms Hurst acknowledges change will not occur overnight, but she is confident improvements have been achieved in her short time.
“Change takes time. It is unrealistic that people will see any significant shift in performance indicators in the next two to three quarters.
“But we are hearing anecdotally positive improvement in communication and processes,” she said.
Ms Hurst was appointed amidst heightened criticism of the shire’s planning department by developers and community members; and planning statistics indicating the shire was performing well below par in its clearance of planning applications.
None of that deterred her from taking on the challenge. With 25 years experience in Tasmanian local government, largely in planning and community development sectors, Ms Hurst had a positive attitude to listening to the criticisms and working through the solutions.
She said the opportunity to work through the issues facing a municipality with significant growth was exciting.
“I did come in eyes wide open. The messages have been pretty clear and I haven’t heard anything I didn’t expect to hear,” she said.
On the table when Ms Hurst arrived was an independent review of council’s planning department, initiated because of developer and community backlash about council’s under-performing planning department.
Statutory planning continues to be one of the shire’s lowest rated performance areas according to State Government data.
Developers and applicants regularly voice their dissatisfaction – particularly with planning delays and lack of communication.
While the findings of the report have never been released, Ms Hurst said the three key recommendations were better communication, better processes to improve timeliness of processing applications and better customer experiences.
Ms Hurst said Baw Baw had recorded unprecedented planning applications with 127 more applications received last financial year than two year before.
The last quarterly performance report presented to council in June indicated “resourcing challenges continue to impact” council’s planning department.
The report showed a red light indicator for its performance, with the average time taken to determine a planning application 120 days and only 45 per cent of applications were determined within the required 60 days.
But Ms Hurst said a planning department’s performance should not always be judged on timelines.
“Good outcomes are sometimes worth the extra time. Do we want to take more time for something that might leave a legacy for the community, or do we want a quick decision,” she said.
Ms Hurst said the priority for developers and community members was regular communication. “We have to get better at communicating.”
She said streamlining processes to ensure customers felt their applications were progressing also was important.
The independent review identified a desperate need for increased investment in staff resources across the planning department.
While acknowledging there were critical planning staff shortages across the sector, Ms Hurst said council was responding to the problem.
She said council was refocusing planning services, implementing new resources and initiatives to deal with backlogs, enhance customer service, communication with applicants and attention to timeframes.
In this year’s budget, a number of new positions will be funded including a senior strategic planner, subdivision officer, open space planner, environmental planning officer and addition strategic planning administration.
Ms Hurst said the extra staff were being employed where the system needed the most support - to improve systems and reduce the backlog.
Ms Hurst said statutory and strategic planning functions were equally important.
“The extraordinary rate of development presents significant planning challenges, both in managing application processing times, and in managing the tensions between the real need for housing development and the desirability of lifestyle and environment that Baw Baw has to offer.
“The community has expectations about their amenity so that puts pressure on ensuring the strategic work is done.
She said an example of this was council’s commitment to undertake the strategic planning work to protect significant vegetation in subdivisions. “Vegetation is something that is highly valued in this community so we have to get that balance right.”
Ms Hurst said local government was about connections where people live and “nowhere is more visible for that than in the planning functions.”
“There is a challenge and opportunity to support this council’s progress as it adapts to what the community is experiencing
“People live here because of the things that make Baw Baw special but when there’s growth there’s development and that impacts people.
“It is difficult to get that sweet spot - you are never going to make everyone happy in planning.”
Ms Hurst said there were two principles to consider in development.
“The people who own the land have the right to develop the land; they have their own needs and we need to appreciate that. But the community comes with a different view and expect council to protect their amenity.
“If there is going to be growth, let’s make sure it can be as good as it can be,” she said.