Page 2616 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 21 September 2022
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meeting the needs of current and future Canberrans. The bill seeks to implement our vision by delivering a spatially led and outcomes-focused planning system that meets the long-term aspirations for the growth and development of Canberra.
A greater emphasis will be placed on strategic planning and spatial direction for the territory at different scales, from the city level to the local area and site levels of planning, as well as improved and built form outcomes. An outcomes focus means that the new planning system will outline the desired results of planning rather than prescribe how things need to be done. It looks beyond buildings in isolation and looks at how they sit in their environment. It means considering things like: are those new buildings being respectful neighbours? How do they perform in terms of Canberrans’ wellbeing, health, recreation, employment, housing and environment? An outcomes focus will lead to greater flexibility in the way developments can be designed, allowing for greater emphasis on improving design quality and built outcomes so that developments can perform well within their local context.
We wanted the bill and subsequent statutory instruments such as the Territory Plan to be easy to use and to provide certainty. At the same time, we wanted to encourage innovative and flexible planning, build trust and confidence in the planning system, and encourage outcomes-focused planning and high quality design. We have expanded the bill’s objects to encourage thinking about planning in the ACT that goes beyond a focus on bricks and mortar. We want to make sure that the planning system continues to deliver for the wide-ranging and often changing needs of all parts of the ACT community.
Sustainable development was a fundamental part of the Planning and Development Act. We are maintaining the importance of this concept in the bill and expanding it to encompass the idea of ecologically sustainable development. We want decisions made within the planning system to support economic growth, but in doing so we want to protect ecological processes and natural systems at the local, territory and broader landscape levels. We want to maintain and enhance the cultural, physical and social wellbeing of all Canberrans.
The bill explicitly encourages planning decisions to consider the knowledge, culture and traditions of the traditional custodians and to plan for population growth. Planning decisions could also consider Canberra’s biodiversity and landscape setting, creating a sustainable and resilient environment and high quality, people-focused and design-led built outcomes.
Planning can be a complex task, where decision-makers need to consider, balance and prioritise sometimes competing policy goals. The bill will include principles for good planning to highlight the importance of good strategic planning. Planners will consider these principles when undertaking strategic and spatial planning. The principles set a benchmark for how planning should be undertaken and help industry and the community to understand the purpose of planning and how good planning should occur.
The move to an outcomes-focused planning system is a significant shift from the Planning and Development Act. We believe that it is necessary and appropriate to create a new entity, to be called the Territory Planning Authority. The change
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