How do the delegations work?

The Council has given the General Manager delegations to determine development applications The General Manager's delegations have been sub-delegated to staff including the Application Assessment Panel, the Director Planning and Development, the Manager Development Control and our Development Assessment Team Leaders.

A total of 68% of development applications are determined under staff delegation. Reports are prepared by the relevant Assessment Officer and placed for determination before the relevant staff delegate. The delegate reviews the assessment report and, if satisfied that all matters have been properly considered, and if satisfied with the recommendation and conditions of consent or reasons for refusal, determines the application.

Staff delegates cannot determine applications where three or more relevant objections have been received which cannot be resolved by amended plans or conditions of development consent.

Applications of a more complex nature are reported to the Application Assessment Panel (about 22%) or where the delegations make it necessary or safeguards require, the assessment report is placed before the Development Control Committee (about 7%). About 3% of the most complex or controversial applications are reported to the Strategic and Corporate Committee or full Council. About 4% are withdrawn by applicants before they are determined.

Complexity, impacts and delegations

Delegations are designed to allow less complex applications to be processed by staff under delegated authority. The following graph demonstrates that these delegations work, with the highest volume of applications being determined with the lowest median determination times under staff delegation.

What factors tend to slow down the processing of a development application?

• Several factors tend to slow the processing of an application, these include;
•  Lack of understanding of statutory requirements and development controls (not looking at our DA guide or not having a Pre-DA).
• Inaccurate applications (plans that don’t show dimensions or accurate floor areas designed).
• Failure of architects or building designers to submit required documentation.

We surveyed our assessment officers and asked them what they thought caused processing delays. The top six responses were;

• Insufficient information
• Stormwater Disposal (cl.25(2)WLEP)
• Tree Removal Issues
• Poor drawings and Statement of Environmental Effects
• Poor compliance with standards/controls (unreasonable expectations of applicants)
• Poor design

Referrals mostly relate to stormwater, landscape or heritage issues. Inadequate or inaccurate stormwater or landscape information usually requires requests for further information or corrected information and can result in multiple re-referrals significantly delaying processing.  A poor or insensitive proposal near a heritage item or within a conservation area will often require a re-design.  

Delays are usually associated with inadequate and insufficient information for the officer to assess the application. Amended plans and replacement applications (multiple assessments under the original application) also drive longer determination times.

How will I be notified of the outcome of my Development Application?

You will receive a Notice of Determination in the mail and you can track your DA online. Each person who made a comment or objection will also receive a Notice of Determination.

The Notice of Determination sets out the terms of the consent, appeal rights and conditions, or in the case of a refusal, the reasons for refusal.