Why we need more transparent planning

I was out letterboxing last night, when I passed the old Warner's factory at 18-20 High Street Northcote, opposite the church. There were two signs alerting me to a proposal to develop the site (though not what would be there). Unfortunately, as you can see in the picture, they're very much obscured, and you would need to live in the immediate neighbourhood to know what was going on.

I knocked on the door of a local resident and found out that 12 dwellings and offices to a height of five storeys were approved for the site, and while the resident was happy that a development would replace the derelict factory, he wasn't happy with quite a few aspects of the design - including over-development, overlooking, and impact on parking and traffic.

This is exactly the kind of issue Darebin's online planning service might address, if it provided adequate information and hadn't been delayed for more than a year. The resident told me the proposal was going to VCAT, which it turns out it did yesterday (the sign said a decision by the responsible authority would not be made before today). We won't know for quite some time - at least from official sources - what the outcome was.

Ringing the Council, I was initially told the file was 'with the consultant', but when I persisted, challenging the admittedly amiable planning officer, the basic details of the proposal were forthcoming - including that there had been a concession granted regarding car-parking. I also did some digging on Darebin's website, and found the initial application was approved back on 14 April this year. Unfortunately, an online link to the plans yields plans for a totally different site.

The problem is clear: the scope for objection and community action on developments is being systematically restricted by a lack of disclosure and buried information. Residents beyond those in the very immediate vacinity of any given development have little idea what's going on in their neighbourhoods.

Of course, that suits our pro-development Council and State Government just fine. The fewer the numbers organising for moderate community-sanctioned development, the easier the path for developers to come in and cut a swathe through our neighbourhood amenity. As in the case of the resident I spoke to, people aren't inherently opposed to development as such - they just want a say. You can vote for your say at November's elections.

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A dodgy report card for 'democratic' Darebin

A report card featured in Monday night's meeting of Council shows Darebin's worst performance across five areas was recorded in the category of 'A Democratic City'.

Based on results from the annual Darebin Community Survey, only 50% of Council Plan Indicators were achieved in this category, compared with 83% in the same category in 2006-2007 and 66% in 2005-2006.

Yet even these figures are rubbery, despite Darebin's commitment to 'transparent reports on our performance' (Annual Report Summary for 'A Democratic City').

Within the Democratic City category, Council scored 73% 'approval' for its performance on community engagement against a Council Plan target of greater than 67%. However, notes for this indicator (p.37 Annual Report), show that the 73% figure includes community responses of 'adequate', 'good' or 'excellent'. This leaves 27% of responses presumably in the categories of 'poor' or 'very poor'.

We are also not told the numbers responding or the levels of approval/disapproval across years. The years 2006 and 2008 both recorded 73% on this indicator, but without the full report, we cannot tell if there were more or fewer responses of 'adequate' in these years - not to mention responses of 'very poor'. The figures released hide a true picture of Council performance over time.

The same report card showed a delay in the review of the City of Darebin Community Consultation Policy and Guidelines (p.41 Annual Report). This was to be completed in 2008 but has now been pushed back to 2009 - after the election.

Council's report card was celebrated on a night of self-congratulation by Darebin Council. It was also a night when Council's Kevin Breen could not confirm a start date for its online service allowing residents to track Darebin planning applications - this despite an October 2007 assurance it would be available by the end of that year.

As the system would offer significant improvements to the transparency of planned developments in Darebin, that's another cross in a report card that needs a lot more ticks.

See also 'Council elections and democratic renewal'

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