Waverley Development Assessment Panel meeting the needs of residents

01 June 2017 | Media Release

Following an announcement from the State Government today about the introduction of Independent Hearing and Assessment Panels as part of a package to increase the supply of affordable housing, Waverley Council confirmed that it has already been using a panel of independent experts to determine development applications for over three years with positive results.

The Waverley Development Assessment Panel (WDAP) is made up of a pool of 15 experts in planning, architecture, urban design, heritage,environmental law, other related fields and includes local community representatives. Currently, the panel meets monthly to review and determine a variety of large scale or contentious development applications (DAs).

Mayor of Waverley Sally Betts said, “Waverley Council has had a really positive experience using the WDAP for hearing DA matters.

“We’ve received feedback from both applicants and the community that they are very satisfied with the panel process and are appreciative that the panel members are all highly regarded professionals who make informed and independent decisions based completely on the merits of the case and the legislation.

“The WDAP visits the location of every application and both applicants and objectors have an opportunity to put forward their views and concerns. Councillors with any concerns relating to a DA also have a process where their concerns are noted in the Officer’s report to the Panel.

“About 12% of our applications go to the panel for determination and these are generally the ones that would have previously gone to a council meeting. It makes sense for experts to make the decisions on tricky DAs.”

The WDAP has been successful in reducing DA time frames, informing in-house interpretation of controls, reducing the number of Land and Environment Court appeals and providing independent expert assessment of development applications.

“Having the WDAP also frees up Councillors to spend more time focusing on the strategic policies that guide the development assessment process and the strategic direction of Waverley.

“At Waverley we’ve experienced a significant decrease in people lodging appeals against decisions of the WDAP compared with decisions previously made at council level. In the three years we’ve had our panel, I think there has only been one successful appeal against a decision of the WDAP.” Mayor Betts said.