Appeals shock at council rulings
THIRD party appeals against developments approved by Hobart City Council outnumber the appeals of applications refused by council.
The most recent update of the council’s planning decisions subject to appeal before the Resource Management and Planning Appeal Tribunal shows the breakdown of current appeal matters.
Of the 16 HCC-related matters dealt with by the planning tribunal from August 30 to November 18, eight were appeals against approval given by council, five were against refusals and the remainder related to appeals against an enforcement notice or conditions.
In the past two years, there have been nine planning applications recommended for approval by council officers, but then refused by the elected members. Of those, six were then appealed to the planning tribunal.
HCC general manager Nick Heath said council had spent about $21,000 hiring external planners to defend decisions.
External legal advice was used in one instance, but Mr Heath did not disclose the cost.
He said each matter generally involved two council officers with expertise in legal, planning or heritage matters for about two full days.
“An estimated total cost of officer time spent on the matters mentioned is around $5000,” he said.
HCC planning committee chairwoman Helen Burnet said more approvals being appealed than refusals demonstrated the council was not anti-development.
“I think there’s a lot of talk with very little substance around this,” she said.
“Whenever we make decisions, we’ve got to think about the consequences of our decisions being appealed.
“If you have concerns about an application, then putting in a representation is really important because there’s no right of appeal if you don’t put one in.”
Alderman Marti Zucco said the overturning of officer recommendations by elected members was often a result of “bowing to lobbying pressure rather that good planning decision-making”.
“It’s time for planning decisions to be taken right away from elected members to an independent body,” he said.