Sartor under fire over planning change

Mr Sartor has proposed "housekeeping changes" to NSW planning laws that critics say will also empower him to approve development projects without proper regard to their environmental effects.

Since last year controversial laws have enabled the planning minister to seize control from councils over "state significant" projects where bureaucratic dithering has been blamed for causing extensive delays.

Mr Sartor has so far directly approved hundreds of controversial developments, usurping council control.

Planners say that a bill to be debated by Parliament this week will widen his powers.

Last night Mr Sartor angrily rejected the claims, telling the Herald the NSW Greens and City of Sydney Council had been "obviously telling porkies".

"The changes do not give the minister one extra iota of power. This bill is about simplicity and transparency in the operation of [planning laws]. Any suggestion otherwise is dishonest."

If the bill is passed Mr Sartor could remove a requirement that the Department of Planning's director-general sit on the council's central planning committee, and replace him with a person of his choosing.

The committee has debated major projects in Sydney's CBD, including the controversial CUB development on Broadway, and Westfield's proposal to redevelop the Pitt Street Mall arcade at Centrepoint Tower.

The NSW president of the Planning Institute of Australia, Anthony Newland, criticised Mr Sartor's proposal, saying it would be inappropriate for him to appoint more sympathetic to his own views. The Lord Mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore, told Parliament yesterday the change would allow a dangerous concentration of power and patronage with the minister.

Mr Sartor said he needed the planning department's director-general, "Sam Haddad, on more complex issues than many of these City of Sydney issues. I need to appoint another regular officer to the [committee's] membership. Sam doesn't have time to go to these four to five-hour meetings every two weeks."

Ms Moore told Parliament the bill would allow Mr Sartor "to ignore environmental assessments prohibiting development approvals. He just needs to "consider" them.

Environmentalists say the bill is aimed at defeating a court challenge to Mr Sartor's approval of a coalmine at Anvil Hill, near Muswellbrook.

Peter Gray, a student, is seeking an order in the Land and Environment Court that the Planning Department should consider the greenhouse gas emissions that will result from the burning of coal when assessing the environmental impact of the mine.

Mr Sartor said the bill had "absolutely nothing whatsoever" to do with that court case - the amendment was written before the case was lodged.

He said the law changes would affirm that he would rely on the director-general's assessments.

The Opposition spokesman on planning, Chris Hartcher, said the proposed changes were part of a "power grab over NSW, which just goes on unchecked".

The Opposition and the Greens are expected to vote against the bill.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/sartor-under-fire-over-planning-change/2006/11/21/1163871403105.html