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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 1 Hansard (13 December) . . Page.. 298 ..

Public notification prior to the assessment and determination of a minor amendment is not a requirement under of the Land Act. It is important to note that a minor amendment is not a result of a new development application, and will not be considered unless it is reasonable to conclude that the change is indeed minor.

In some cases, applicants may provide comments from an adjacent neighbour indicating that they do not feel their amenity is significantly affected. In this instance, while the comments are of assistance, PALM will still ensure that the intent of paragraph 247 (2) (c) has been clearly met.

Where the work proposed by an amendment is clearly new work, which may include changes to the bulk or form of a building, or the addition of a window which may permit overlooking of a neighbour, the applicant is advised that the minor amendment provisions of the Land Act (s247) do not apply. The proposed changes must therefore be dealt with by way of a new application, which may include public notification.

(4) As stated in response to Question 3, the Land Act requires the relevant authority to notify the person who made the application, the lessee (if that person is not the lessee or occupier of the place to which the approval relates), and any relevant authority.

(5) All applications to PALM under section 247 of the Land Act undergo the same professional assessment as applications lodged under section 226 of the Act. The assessment by a PALM project officer involves a merits assessment of the impacts of the proposal, including an assessment against the relevant controls in the Territory Plan. The assessment often also involves a site inspection. If the applicant provides evidence of support of the proposal from an adjoining lessee, that information is taken into account during the merits assessment of the application.

It should be noted that the Territory Plan contains a series of Performance Controls, Objectives, Performance Criteria and Performance Measures. The Codes state that if the performance measures are satisfied, in most cases no further evidence of performance is required-the objectives and performance criteria are deemed to have been satisfied.

(6) Under subsection 5 (1) of the Administration Act 1989, the Minister may

delegate his powers to approve an application to a person for the time being holding or performing the duties of an office. An instrument of delegation under that section permits some PALM officers of the AS05 level and above to approve applications under section 247 of the Land Act. It should be noted that senior officers within PALM generally determine the more complex applications.

(7) The current team management practices within PALM ensure that section 247 applications are dealt with in a consistent way. PALM ensures that all assessment teams are lead by senior officers. The area managers also take an active role in team decision making.

Currently no other formal auditing of section 247 amendments is carried out within PALM.

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