Leichhardt Council criticised for development shift

By Jessica Yun

Recently re-elected Independent councillor John Stamolis and Greens councillor Roochelle Porteous have raised concerns about changes to Leichhardt Council’s development procedures.

In May, Leichhardt Council announced a one-year trial of an Independent Hearing and Assessment Panel (IHAP) to begin in September. The Panel will consist of a number of industry experts who will take the place of council in reviewing development applications.

The implementation of IHAP is presumed to remove political bias when considering development applications (DAs).

“With the ongoing corruption saga in New South Wales, it is time to put in place measures to ensure councillors at Leichhardt can never be inappropriately lobbied about development applications,” said Mayor Darcy Byrne.

Ex-Mayor of Leichhardt Maire Sheehan said she believes there are other reasons behind the decision.

“The current Mayor, with clever timing and justification tied the decision to keeping councillors out of the way of the temptations of corruption…But my guess is that he is, smart guy that he is, also accepting the persistent erosion of local decision making and calling it a day for now,” she said.

Cr Stamolis fears an Independent Hearing and Assessment Panel (IHAP) will mean the number of responsibilities of councillors will decrease.

“When council is constantly putting through motions and changes that are significantly reducing the workload, it’s a bit of an odd signal.”

Ms Sheehan said she feels this move is indicative of a broader trend developing in Leichhardt Council.

“The trend of these changes I believe, is to shift local councillors from being locally elected advocates and decision makers for their local communities to being administrators of a range of activities for the state government – rather like contracting out, but cheaper.”

“The decision to move decisions to an “independent” panel is merely an expression of the trend.”

Annandale Precinct’s Secretary Ian Cranwell says Leichhardt Council did not include the community in their decision-making process surrounding IHAP.

“What they’re consulting on now is the detail of how [IHAP] would run and what its terms of reference are, code of conduct etc. But the decision to have it was made without – to my knowledge – any public consultation at all.”

Cr Porteous agreed that lack of community consultation is a serious issue in regards to these changes.

“The community has never had opportunity to be consulted on this issue,” she said.

“This change will impact residents the most. It is so important to have local accountability from publicly elected representatives on issues that affect the lives of residents.”

“The Greens want to see accountability transparency and fairness in the planning system at all levels of decision making but particularly at the local level.”