MARY Lyons-Buckett and four other western Sydney Mayors have united against new planning regulations by the state government, which they say are anti-democratic.
The state government recently passed legislation, which will see councils lose the power to determine development applications between the value of $5 million and $30 million.
The panels - called Independent Hearing and Assessment Panels (IHAPs) – will be used for DAs that are “high value, corruption risk, sensitivity or strategic importance is transparent and accountable” according to the NSW Department of Planning and Environment.
Mary Lyons-Buckett told The Gazette last week that she supported voluntary, but not compulsory, use of the planning panels.
However, she has gone a step further now, and banded together with the Mayors of Blue Mountains, Penrith, Campbelltown and Liverpool to oppose the regulations.
“Our communities are accommodating rapid population growth. We believe it is essential for them to retain a say in shaping how their suburbs develop,” the Mayors said in a joint prepared statement.
“That only happens when their elected council representatives have a role in determining development applications in their own LGAs. If Councillors get it wrong, they can be voted out at an election.”
The statement called for the Berejiklian government to put a brake on the implementation of IHAPs and said they were effectively silencing the community.
“Surely this is a removal of the democratic process at a very basic level – denying community-elected representatives a say on deciding local development applications,” the Mayors said in their statement.
The government, including Member for Hawkesbury and state treasurer Dominic Perrottet, have been selling the changes as transparent and beneficial for the community.
“This is a very important step in ensuring the residents of the Hawkesbury can have full confidence in the expertise, transparency, and integrity of the assessment of development applications,” Mr Perrottet said via a prepared statement issued last week.