Page 1787 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 21 August 2007
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However, if the building is exempt from requiring a development approval—for example, a small deck or pergola—then a use approval will not be required. Existing use rights in leases will not be affected. Uses authorised on a lease can continue to operate. For existing and new leases, development approval may be needed so that the impact of changed use involving building work can be assessed and managed.
The government has worked closely with industry to address its concerns within this concept. There will be a single source, the land titles office, for finding out about the rights to use land. Protections for uses on new and existing leases are guaranteed in the bill. Existing rights are not lost when a development application to commence another use is refused for planning and development assessment reasons. Rights to use land do not lapse simply because there is a break in the use of the land, the use is not continuous or the lease is renewed.
There is express protection in the rare cases where a change to the territory plan prohibits a use authorised in the lease. The owner may still exercise those use rights but may need to seek development approval to do so. The reforms protect the community’s interest in having an efficient and effective planning system, but it also protects the rights of individuals to develop their property.
A final significant amendment is the removal of clause 291 of the bill, which restricts mortgages over undeveloped land. This provision, which also exists in the current land act, prohibits leases of undeveloped land from being mortgaged unless funds borrowed are used to finance the purchase of the land or construction of the buildings on that land.
A companion provision, clause 292, requires leaseholders to obtain the consent of the planning and land authority to transfer undeveloped land. Consent may only be given in certain circumstances. These circumstances have been revised in light of the removal of clause 291. Collectively, these provisions have operated to prevent land speculation, which is one of the important objectives of the ACT’s leaseholder system.
Stakeholders and the planning and environment committee have raised concerns that clause 291 is in conflict with current financing practices and may unwittingly put people in breach of this provision. These matters have been given careful consideration and the government now proposes to delete clause 291 of the bill whilst amending clause 292 to retain the anti-speculative objectives of clause 291 in a more flexible form.
Very quickly, Mr Speaker, before we adjourn I will just make some comments on the other bills. The Planning and Development (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2007 makes consequential amendments to other ACT legislation as a result of the Planning and Development Bill and while most of the amendments are technical in nature some amendments are more substantial. For example, the amendments to the Land Titles Act 1925 enables the Registrar-General to note administrative interests on titles such as development approvals for use, in time providing people with a single source of information about what affects their property.
Other amendments to the Public Health Act 1997 and the Environment Protection Authority Act 1997 integrate assessment processes under those pieces of legislation
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