Council defends State Government

CASEY Council says the State Government has been helpful with local planning strategies amid claims more can be done to improve the process.
Chairperson of Legislation Committee on Environment and Planning Inga Peulich asked Minister of Planning Matthew Guy to assist local governments in their planning strategies.
She said local government “could do a lot more” and have better communication to improve the outcome of structure plans, especially for activity centres that serve more than one municipality.
“If we are going to achieve better outcomes for the development of structure plans, the community needs to be informed by a process of consultation and an engagement with each other in order to achieve greater coherence,” Ms Peulich said.
“Local communities should have an active involvement in consultation on and development of the design of their physical environment, which is going to be a legacy for future generations.”
But City of Casey Manager Strategic Development Liam Hodgetts said councils do undertake community consultation and said the Minister provides guidance and input into the council’s planning strategies through the State Planning Policy section of the Casey Planning Scheme.
“Council undertakes community consultation in relation to activity centre structure plans to gain input from the community about any local issues and to find out how residents would like to see the centre develop.
“An extensive and successful consultation exercise for both the draft Cranbourne Town Centre and Berwick Village Structure Plans was recently undertaken,” Mr Hodgetts said.
“The Minister, through the Department of Planning and Community Development (DPCD), provides guidance and input into council’s planning strategies through the State Planning Policy section of the Casey Planning Scheme.
“Casey has also received grants to help plan for activity centres from the DPCD Expert Assistance Program.”
Mr Hodgetts said local government should always be the authority to plan for the ongoing development and prosperity of local activity centres and community input and ownership of these plans are critical to their success
While Ms Peulich said local government should consider new technologies particularly digital technologies which would encourage and enable in the development of structure plan concepts, Mr Hodgetts said the City of Casey uses 3-D imagery, and recently, while undertaking community consultation for Berwick Village Structure Plan and the Cranbourne Town Centre Structure Plan, it was used successfully to communicate the vision for the activity centres to the community.