One of the opportunities presented by a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic, is the chance to take a look at the status quo and consider options for permanent reform and improvement.  But working from home is not one of those improvements when it comes to the planning system.  While necessary during COVID, on-line meetings have effectively killed the collaborative culture that is critical to resolving issues and developing solutions to legitimate community concerns.  It is time for all planners to get back to their desks – at work!

In mid-2020, only a few months into the pandemic, The NSW Department of Planning moved to establish a fast-track tranche of Development Proposals to boost the economy and drive jobs, employment centres and housing supply.  Programs were also established to cut the timeframes associated with development assessments and process rezoning applications.

The Land and Environment Court moved to conduct hearings online.  Local and Regional Panels also took their hearings on-line.  Councils adapted to the working from home environment.

All good moves to deal with the circumstances of the day.

But the practical impact on the planning system of staff working from home, and consequently, the property development and construction sector, has been disastrous.  Housing approvals, particularly for high-yield apartment development proposals, has plummeted downwards and stayed there.

The average timeframes for dealing with development applications have reportedly dropped (modestly), but for anything complex, for anything delivering high numbers of new homes, both assessment timeframes and the complexity of the process, has gotten worse.

Many Councils have used Covid-19 to clear the decks of many applications that had hung around for a long time.  But, as noted above, new housing approvals have sunk to lows not seen since the post GFC recession period.

The real challenge facing the Perrottet government is the need to change the culture of planners, assessors and decision makers in the planning system.  The work from home practices, combined with a poor culture, have been a disaster.

A case study demonstrates the point:

The Department of Planning has encouraged Councils to host pre-DA lodgement meetings involving Council officers to assist applicants address key concerns likely to come up during assessment.

These meetings have shifted from face-to-face meetings to an on-line discussion driven by the COVID safe work restrictions.  This means that meetings involving the applicant, a planner, usually the architect along with an appointed Council planning assessor and (if you are lucky) key Council staff relevant to the proposal, now take place via Zoom (or Teams, or Web Ex etc).  Rather than a discussion, these meetings have become perfunctory presentations of a proposal followed by the pro-forma response. The shift to working from home and on-line meetings has resulted in over worked and under-resourced Council planning staff completely abrogating any sense of collaboration.  This story has been recounted to me by our members time and time again.

To add insult to injury, all-too-frequently, Council staff turn their cameras off during these meetings.  It is impossible to refer to maps and drawings.  Simple questions take weeks to get an answer.  It regularly takes 6 weeks just to secure a date for an on-line meeting, a further 6 weeks to get only partial feedback, then followed by a further drip-feed of feedback. With each iteration of feedback, changes to the application as the associated consultant reports need to be made.  Ironically, a process that was designed to streamline the assessment process has resulted in protracted delays.

In summary – a policy initiative to improve the process has resulted in the situation getting worse.

The culture change I refer to is the first step towards the re-skilling of planners to once again see them responsible for assisting in the solving of problems.  The re-empowerment of planners to go outside the prescriptive box of planning controls, apply their skills and experience through merit-based assessments to deliver a result that will not always comply with the rules is a critical to their job.  That is the lost art of skilful planning to assist the feasibility of development without damaging community amenity.  But this requires close collaboration, consideration of competing views and an iterative process of optioneering.  It is simply not possible to do this through remote working and e-meetings.

Unfortunately, many planners have become functionaries.  They go through a check list and tick the box.  If all the boxes are not ticked – they recommend refusal.  Local Planning Panels rarely take the view that they should stick their neck out to support economic growth and the housing of new residents.  Why would they?  The development community needs planners and decision makers to assist in resolving the issues – not simply be a mirror for local objections.  This change is fundamental to delivering anything like sufficient housing supply.

A cultural change is needed to have planners consider the benefits of growth.  We need planners to assist in facilitating this growth in a way that addresses or at least mitigates community concerns, to assist in the generation of new homes and jobs, as well as income for the State and Local Governments they serve.

The first step to achieving this is to follow the Premier’s lead and return to work at the end of this month (at the latest)!.  Not 3 days a week – if you work full time – be at work full time.

Planning is a complex matter – particularly in NSW.  It is simply too easy to fob an applicant off with reference to the lack of feedback from another department within the Council or the failure of a government agency to provide comment, when you are on a zoom conference.  This is fobbing off housing supply.  We need to climb out of the depths of housing approval despair, and this starts with getting back to work at 100% capacity.

Problem solving revolves around collaboration.  The education of young planners depends on the experience they gain from watching more experienced planners resolve complex policy conundrums.  This process often involves multiple government agencies, the developer, architects, landscape designers, traffic consultants, infrastructure experts, flora and fauna specialists, and more.  It is time our public sector planners got back to work and focussed on fixing the dearth of housing approvals.