The NSW Government last week released an issues paper for public
comment, as part of its 18 month review of the state's planning
system, which is likely to culminate in a new planning act for NSW.
This document is the first tangible output from the review process,
following a lengthy state-wide program of meetings undertaken by
the review chairpersons, Tim Moore and Ron Dyer.
Readers will recall that the State Government was elected in
March 2011 on the back of a firm commitment to return more power to
local councils in the short term (see our September 2011 update
here on how this has already occurred) and to completely
replace NSW's 32 year old Environmental Planning and
Assessment Act in the medium term. The 119 page issues paper
released this week is the first real milestone in that process. It
is titled The way head for planning in NSW? and, as the
question mark suggests, the document is largely open-ended. Is
poses 238 questions, each accompanied by a brief
