Fix cultural issues in Council
How it helps:
Faster decision making on Development Applications
Better commercial decisions and outcomes
Increased supply
The challenges faced:
Council’s Development Services branch is in the height of a cultural battle. Years of single issue group resistance and personalised public scrutiny have contributed to council officers approaching development applications with a lens of fear.
Increasingly, Council officers are escalating decision-making to the political arena to distance themselves from making a decision so as not to be the source of blame, or they are denying an application which forces the developer to go through the Planning and Environment Court to have the decision overturned. The process of bringing the property to the market is then delayed and unnecessary cost burdens are being borne by ratepayers.
This is then made worse by what developers have described as a ‘lack of commerciality’. As fear of retribution translates to onerous conditions on development approvals, it is evident council officers are not considering whether, once all conditions are met, the development can make a profit (the only way it can be built), or if it’s a product the market even needs. Instead, it would appear decision makers are exacerbating the homelessness and lack of affordability situation by complicating the process and by making decisions based on external pressures they expect to have to respond more so than due process.
Increasingly, developers are demonstrating projects that meet council requirements, are absent of any community resistance and meet the planning scheme still being delayed due to an unworkable approval or ability to understand the solutions offered.
What needs to be done:
Council decision makers need to gain a clear understanding of the housing supply crisis facing the Sunshine Coast and then support their officers to deliver decisions and outcomes without fear.
An extensive, independent review should be undertaken to identify the causes of the cultural issues and provide solutions for accountability to actions, training for Council staff and support mechanism that empower and protect them to professionally execute their roles.