HIA’s Greg Weller has criticised the new planning advisory service. Photo: Facebook/Housing Industry Association.
The Housing Industry Association (HIA) is calling on the ACT Government a scrap a new service designed to help residents impacted by planning decisions, describing it as “legal aid for NIMBYs”.
The Independent Planning Advisory Service (IPAS) is being established to enable residents to seek advice on lodging complaints or reviewing decisions on development application approvals and other property-related outcomes.
HIA Executive Director ACT/Southern NSW Greg Weller says IPAS is likely to worsen Canberra’s housing shortage.
“While on one hand, Labor has committed to seeing 30,000 new homes in the ACT by the end of 2030, on the other, the government is actively putting hurdles in the way of getting new housing approved,” he said.
“A government tender, which has recently closed, is to set up IPAS, which will include legal and planning expertise and provide support to lodge objections to housing development applications.
“The service will be a two-year pilot and will assist third parties that are trying to stop a development in Canberra or fight a planning decision … it can best be described as ‘legal aid for NIMBYs’.”
A NIMBY – which stands for ‘not in my backyard’ – is a pejorative term for someone who objects to further development in their own neighbourhood for selfish reasons.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr dismissed criticism of the new planning service. Photo: Thomas Lucraft.
Mr Weller questioned the point of setting up a new service he says will help NIMBYs.
“The paint is barely dry on the ACT’s new planning system – which is being cited as one of the pillars of government’s plan to unlock more housing development – yet at the same time, a new unit of government is being set up to give legal advice on how to fight against it,” he said.
“The planning system [already] has well-established mechanisms to provide public notification of proposed developments and pathways for people to seek more information or object to a project.”
Chief Minister Andrew Barr dismissed the HIA’s call for IPAS to be scrapped at a press conference this week.
“We’ve set out some quite clear housing supply goals, 30,000 new dwellings over the next six years … there are a number of those projects that are proceeding as well, but they do have to be developed in accordance with the planning framework,” he said.
“Just as the Canberra Liberals can’t set aside the National Capital Plan, housing developers can’t set aside the Territory Plan either.”
The National Capital Plan defines designated areas of the capital that have special characteristics that restrict development opportunities. Mr Barr has argued that the Canberra Liberals ACT election promise to build a new 30,000-seat stadium at Acton Waterfront is not possible under the parameters of this Plan.
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