SEQ Mayors have launched a campaign to defend the decision-making powers of local governments in Queensland.

 

Council of Mayors (SEQ) Acting Chairman Councillor John Brent said the State Government‟s planning powers, through the Urban Land Development Authority (ULDA), was taking planning out of the hands of local communities.”

 

An independent report prepared by Professor Kenneth Wiltshire and Dr Stephen Jones of the University of Queensland Business School, released last week, warned that undermining the role of local government in planning could seriously impact on local democracy and accountability as well as breaching the “subsidiarity principle” of good government.

 

The report warned that local communities in Queensland are losing control over their quality of life and that new forms of urban planning, development, infrastructure provision and service delivery are threatening the traditional structures of urban governance in Queensland, reducing the role of local government and giving more power to the State Government and private interest.

 

The report recommends placing severe constraints on the use of fast tracking which should only be used for emergency situations; the abolition of the ULDA and a clearer identification of the roles and responsibilities of the three levels of government in the Australian federation, from a local community participation perspective.

 

Sunshine Coast Regional Council Mayor Councillor Bob Abbot said his community was totally opposed to the State Government‟s decision to strip his council of planning responsibility for the new suburb of Caloundra  South and give it to the unelected ULDA.

 

“We want to plan for a community that has the highest standards of social, environmental and economic infrastructure,” Cr Abbot said.

 

“But the ULDA wants to cut every corner in the interests of an ill defined “affordability” agenda. The developers are delighted, but the local community is outraged. The level of government closest to the people should be engaging with the community to make decisions about planning, not unelected bureaucrats,” he said.

 

The Council of Mayors (SEQ) will be calling on both sides of politics to review the legislation surrounding the ULDA to give planning control back to councils while improving the provision of State and local infrastructure.