The dire trend of planning approvals on the Peninsula

I sympathize with Luke Chell (Forum edition 490) about the dire trend in planning approvals on the Peninsula and so do Bryan Ellis, June Mitchell, Laurie Powell and Uncle Tom Cobley and all.

I am proud to say that not one candidate I voted for in local, state or federal election was elected, so I can afford to be critical.

Developers know that the so-called planning standards are a joke and that it isn't even necessary to make a plausible case to get council approval for non-complying projects.

The latest manifestation of this is the Blackwall-Burge townhouse application that exceeds the permissible density, does not meet setback requirements and falls below the required parking standard, all of which requirements are airily dismissed as "not appropriate for this project".

As I have said multiple times before, if the current standards are not appropriate, let us have new ones.

But new ones that have been properly arrived at by rational research and analysis, not arbitrary project-by-project variations by bureaucratic whimsy.

And certainly they should not be arrived at by the mess of unsupported and inconsistent requirements of the draft Development Plan which will only lead to more of the same.

What we need are property speculators and real-estate agents off councils, and more planning panels that can take development decisions out of the hands of incompetent councillors by establishing reliable protocols that reflect the best way forward for the community.

Oh, and world peace and the elimination of global poverty.

Email, 20 Mar 2020

Bruce Hyland, Woy Woy