Pembroke by-election: Candidates Forum Tues 31st October

The Planning Matters Alliance Tasmania will host a forum featuring candidates vying for the Legislative Council seat of Pembroke at this weekend’s by-election. The forum will focus on issues relating the Statewide Planning Scheme and the candidates’ vision for how planning affects development decisions for Pembroke in the future.

All seven candidates have been invited, with five accepting to appear in person. Green’s candidate Bill Harvey is unavailable, but has accepted an invitation to send a representative. Liberal candidate James Walker is also unavailable and is yet to respond to the invitation to nominate a representative.

Given the complexity of planning laws and reforms, and to assist with consistency, all candidates have been requested to address five specific questions, sent to them in advance.

Candidates forum – Planning Matters
Where: Rosny Park Bowls Club
40 Bastick St, Rosny
When: Tuesday 31st October 2016
6 pm

FIVE QUESTIONS

1. Planning is ultimately about having a vision for well-designed, liveable communities. Describe your vision for Pembroke.

2. Under the Statewide Planning Scheme, local area plans can be used to set special rules for areas that have “particular environmental, economic, social or spatial qualities that require provisions that are unique to the area of land”. What are some of the areas within Pembroke that you think would warrant special rules?

3. In its recommendations on the State Planning Provisions, the Tasmanian Planning Commission urged the government to review, as a matter of priority, the impacts of Planning Directive 4.11 (commonly called PD 4.1)1 which provides for reduced lot sizes, higher densities and reduced setbacks across most residential areas. Would you support this review being carried out before the Statewide Planning Scheme takes effect?

4. Do you support or oppose these projects being declared a major project and taken out of the normal council assessment process:

 The proposed tourist development on Rosny Hill
 The golf resort at seven mile beach that was refused by the Clarence City Council in 2014
 Fragrance skyscrapers proposed for Hobart and Launceston

5. If you were to develop a suite of state planning policies2, what would be your priority topics?

1 The Act allows the Minister for Planning and Local Government to issue planning directives. A planning directive provides direction on planning matters, including standards that must be included in all planning schemes. Planning Directive 4.1 can be viewed here: http://www.planning.tas.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/332994/PD4-1_-_Revised_18Jun2014.pdf Those standards overrode existing provisions, and reduced the minimum lot sizes and setback provisions and increased density in all residential areas, whether in central Hobart or downtown Cygnet. The content of Planning Directive4.1 has been copied almost unchanged into State Planning Provisions.

2 State Policies describe the Government’s position on issues of sustainable development. They are policies about: land use planning, land management, environmental management, and environment protection. Tasmania currently only has three state policies: Tasmanian State Coastal Policy 1996, State Policy on Water Quality Management 1997 & State Policy on Protection of Agricultural Land 2009. PMAT’s platform document ( https://static1.squarespace.com/static/590bec1386e6c071a646994b/t/595c7031893fc0cdd94ee04c/1505435197361/PMAT+Platform_Final.pdf ), which outlines the six key principles that PMAT believes must underpin Tasmania’s planning system, calls for a strategic planning system by establishing and implementing a community endorsed, sustainable, long-term strategic vision for Tasmania by creating a range of state and/or regional Policies. Examples include affordable housing, biodiversity, fire management, climate change, coastal development, energy efficiency. For the full list of examples, see ‘footnote d’ of PMAT’s platform document.
Sophie Underwood. First published October 30