Dear Supporter/Concerned member of the community
There has been a recent flurry of promotional material on the proposed Planning and Design Code emanating from the Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure (DPTI). This is a favourite bureaucratic ploy of Government Departments when they have lost their way and want to confuse or mislead the public.
It is clear that the Code is in trouble. Despite the dogged persistence of the Planning Minister in insisting that the ‘reform’ process is on track, that the e-planning system is workable and that implementation is imminent, flaws and cracks are appearing that would suggest otherwise.
The latest Reports on the Code Phase 2 (rural) and Phase 3 (metropolitan) indicate that the whole process is in a state of confusion and flux, with strong community opposition to many aspects of the code and major concerns about the community engagement process. Test demonstrations of the e-planning system have revealed ongoing problems and deficiencies.
The e-planning platform has been developed at great expense and with difficulty by DPTI, despite much simpler, more efficient and cheaper options being available interstate. And, now, unsurprisingly, the Minister is running short of money to support his ill-formed, attenuated and deeply unpopular planning ‘reforms’.
Despite this, it appears to be the intent of the Minister, the State Planning Commission (SPC) and DPTI to rush to implementation, even though policies and systems have yet to be clearly defined. This is a recipe for disaster and would alienate Councils and communities and throw the building and development industries into chaos.
One of the few enlightened provisions in the original Planning, Development and infrastructure Act (2016) was the establishment of a Planning and Development (‘Open Space’) Fund, financed by a levy on the building industry. This Fund provides for the creation of open space and greening in association with infill and other urban developments.
It is now evident that the ‘Open Space’ Fund has been plundered by the Planning Minister to prop-up the budget shortfall in the development and implementation of the Planning and design Code. As detailed in Hansard, on 18 June 2020, the Minister varied Section 25/Regulation 119 of the PDI (2016) Act to allow the Fund to be applied to:
- the SA planning portal website and database;
- the online atlas and search facility;
- the online delivery of planning services, and
- the Planning and Design Code.
This manouvre seemed designed to legitimise a covert process of siphoning-off money from the Fund to augment the DPTI budget relating to the Code. And it appears that this has been going on for three years.
So, here we have a proposed new planning system, predicated on crowded infill and highrise urban over-densification, being subsidised by a Fund which was established to mitigate against these very consequences.
The public deserves to know more details about the financial management of the Code……budget allocations, expenditures and overruns… and a realistic and honest indication of timelines and outcomes, particularly in relation to the troubled e-planning system. See Advertiser story today– (requires subscription)
In the meantime, the Minister must answer for his mishandling of the planning ‘reform’ process, which raises question of maladministration within the SPC and DPTI. The Government must pause the implementation of the Planning and Design Code pending a review and inquiry into its administration and budget.
How could the Government have got it so wrong, and at what expense to taxpayers and the community? 14 000 South Australians have already asked for a review of the Code through the Protect our Heritage petition, which Parliament is still yet to consider.
I urge you to let your member of Parliament know that you are not happy about the siphoning of monies from the open space fund to prop up the deeply flawed Planning and Design Code. Alternatively, please write to the upper house members who will be reviewing the Code through one of two Parliamentary Committees. We need to demand accountability and transparency for this escalating debacle.
With Best Regards
Warren Jones AO
AN INDEPENDENT REVIEW IS NEEDED NOW!
Write to your local MP and ask for an independent review of the management and costs of the Planning & Design Code, before it progresses any further.
Download a list of State MP contacts
Professor Warren Jones AO is the Convenor of the Protect our Heritage Alliance, a coalition of concerned organisations and individuals, working to protect our built and natural environment. GPO Box 2021 Adelaide, SA 5001
Phone: 0419 852 622
Email: convenor@protectourheritage.org.au
Facebook: protectourheritageSA