HOW convenient has the Pandemic been, it seems, for NSW INC and some councils with restrictions on gatherings to eliminate the right of people to protest so many poor planning decisions with overdevelopment … that are clearly contrary to their interests.

Could some Councils be stacked with rels of MPs … real estate agents, developers, conveyancers, lawyers and accountants?

We have already learnt of Four Tranches of Shovel-ready development projects fast-tracked during this Pandemic …

The system appears to have been streamlined … online for Development Applications

We had a chat recently with someone who has undergone this experience, and this is what they told us!

Councillors conduct video meetings with local residents objecting to DAs. However the community is restricted to the number who can participate, and only for a few minutes each! Squashed!

Whoda thaut that the devils would seek planning approval … to sit on them for a more lucrative project, or sell the land with the Development Application attached to make more?

AND with the online system eliminating the rights of residents to object to plans … it has also meant that councillors are less likely to view the sites … they don’t have to get out of their chair …

-online local residents can speak but may be muffled!

However, the City of Sydney ensures that all objections and planning submissions are made available to the members of the local planning panel ahead of the meetings. Following which both applicants and objectors can then speak to the panel through an online video meeting.

How likely, is it, that this happens across all Councils?

And, of course, Councils having discarded the paperwork DA approvals have been accelerated! Again another benefit for developers …

To top it off the developers domain, the Land and Environment Court also operates online. This can mean that the planning panel members may each be in their homes … three or four of them along with an architect, and the council officer perhaps a planner also working online from their homes.

Could such a meeting be manipulated if a member started talking over the top of the others?