The change, which puts into effect amendments to the
Environmental Planning and Assessment Act, allows Mr Sartor to seize control of
a council if he believes it is in the public interest.
Until now, councils had their powers removed only after an
inquiry or with the consent of a majority of councillors.
Community groups and councils are already bristling over a
fee of $250 to participate in a forum hosted by the State Government to discuss
an overhaul of council planning laws designed to speed up the processing of
development applications.
The president of the Local Government and Shires
Association, Genia McCaffery, said the new powers were completely subjective
and the changes “should be of major concern to every resident in
NSW”.
“If [Sartor] gets out of bed in the morning and
decides he doesn’t like a council he can do it [sack the council],” she
said.
The changes help a minister decide if the performance of a
council in planning and development matters is unsatisfactory.
Criteria for sacking include how long a council takes to
process development applications, including for renovations, as well as the
type of demands it makes under its planning rules.
“Mums and dads are entitled to expect councils to
deal with their development applications in a timely way,” a spokeswoman
for Mr Sartor said.
This month, Mr Sartor indicated he was willing to use the
new powers, which come into effect on Wednesday, if councils did not speed up
their processing of development applications.
Mr Sartor’s proposed overhaul of planning laws, which he
wants passed by the middle of next year, includes stripping councils of the
power to approve development applications and widening the role of private
certifiers. At present, private certifiers can be hired to process building
certificates but they have been widely criticised because they are paid by the
developer.
Rather than hold a public inquiry to discuss the changes,
the Department of Planning is charging $250 a head to attend a forum called
“New Ideas for Planning”.
Each council is to be permitted one free seat at the
conference after Cr McCaffery complained about having to pay.
The executive director of the Total Environment Centre,
Jeff Angel, said it was a departure from the way the State Government changed
laws.
“No other department would ever dream of charging for
that sort of process,” he said. “It’s obviously intended to dissuade
community group participation.”
A spokesman for the department said consultation with
stakeholder groups would take place but the stakeholders had not yet been
identified.
Mr Angel said that the last time an important planning
policy, the Metropolitan Strategy, was introduced, the department held free
public forums.