Woollahra Local Planning Panel (WLPP)

In 2017 the NSW Government introduced legislation requiring all councils in the Greater Sydney Region and Wollongong to have Local Planning Panels (LPPs) in place by 1 March 2018.

The principal function of the WLPP is to determine local development applications (DAs) that fall within the following categories: conflict of interest, contentious development, departure from development standards, sensitive development.

The WLPP also provides advice to Council on planning proposals and other matters.

The WLPP is an independent assessment body and is not subject to the instruction or control of Council, except on matters relating operational procedure and matters set out in directions issued by the Minister under the Environmental Planning and Assessment (EP&A) Act 1979.

The function of Council as a consent authority for DAs is no longer exercisable by the Councillors.

Many of the DAs previously determined by Council's Development Control Committee (DCC) will be determined by the WLPP instead. The last DCC meeting was held on Monday 19 February 2018, and the first meeting of the WLPP was held on 26 March 2018.

The following list is a summary of the categories of DAs that the WLPP will be responsible for determining; as set out by the Minister for Planning in February 2018.

• Conflict of interest – development for which the applicant or landowner is: the Council, a Councillor, a member of staff who is principally involved in the exercise of Council’s functions under the EP&A Act, a member of Parliament, or a relative of one of the above.
• Contentious development – DAs that receive 10 or more unique objections from different households.
• Departure from development standards – development that contravenes a development standard imposed by a planning instrument by more than 10% or non-numerical development standards.
• Designated development.
• Residential flat building, where State Environmental Planning Policy No. 65 (SEPP 65) is applicable.
• Demolition of a heritage item.
• Development for the purposes of new premises that will require: a club licence or a hotel (general bar) licence or an on–premises licence for public entertainment venues.
• Development for the purpose of sex services premises and restricted premises.
• DAs for which the developer has offered to enter into a planning agreement.

For more information, refer to the Ministerial Direction.

Although the principal function of the WLPP is to determine certain types of DAs, the panel will also provide advice to Council on planning proposals (i.e. amendments to the Woollahra Local Environmental Plan 2014 such as rezonings) and any other planning or development matter that Council refers to the panel.

On 28 February 2018, the Minister for Planning approved a direction stating that all planning proposals made after 1 June 2018 must be referred to a WLPP for advice unless the general manager of a council determines it relates to the correction of an error, is minor in nature or will not have any significant adverse impact on the environment or adjoining land.

In undertaking their duties, the Panel members must comply with the Code of Conduct for Local Planning Panel Members and the Operational Procedures as adopted by the Panel.

Code of Conduct

The behaviour and standards of Panel members are governed by the Code of Conduct for Local Planning Panel Members which has been prepared by the NSW Government and approved by the Minister for Planning under the EP&A Act, under clause 28 of Schedule 2 of the Act.

The Code of Conduct sets out the expected standard of behaviour required of panel members, including managing conflicts of interest and reporting any approaches from developers. It is a key tool in minimising corruption risk in the determination of DAs, and providing advice to Council on planning proposals and other matters.

Failure by a panel member to comply with the Code of Conduct is the responsibility of Council to address. In cases of serious breaches, Council has the option to remove a panel member from office.

Woollahra Local Planning Panel - Code of Conduct for Planning Panel Members(PDF, 629KB)

Operational Procedures

The EP&A Act sets out the key requirements for how the WLPP must operate. For example, a notice must be published detailing the time and location of meetings, the panel must conduct its meetings in public and give written reasons for its decisions.

The operational procedures help to ensure that the WLPP meets its obligations in the most efficient and effective manner.

The Woollahra Operational Procedures were adopted on 26 March 2018. The Operational Procedures detail how the WLPP will operate and incorporate:

• Procedural requirements contained in Schedule 2 of the EP&A Act
• Requirements contained in the Local Planning Panels Direction – Operational Procedures issued by the NSW Minister for Planning under section 9.1 of the EP&A Act (noting for ease of reference these have been incorporated into the Operational Procedures in blue font) and
• Specific arrangements for the operation of the WLPP as discussed with the WLPP Chair, Ms Penelope Holloway.

The Operational Procedures have been developed to ensure that public participation is a key component of the public meeting and to promote open and transparent governance. The procedures cover a range of matters including the meeting procedures (which set out requirements for providing public notice of meetings, how to address the panel, and deliberation and voting).

Woollahra Local Planning Panel - Operational Procedures(PDF, 347KB)

The WLPP comprises four (4) voting members:

• One (1) Chair
• Two (2) Independent Expert members
• One (1) Community Representative member (representing all five wards across the whole municipality at the WLPP meeting).

The EP&A Act sets out the membership requirements of the LPPs. The positions on the panel are paid positions and members are appointed on a part-time basis for three years. The Panel composition was considered last by Council on 28 June 2021.

Expert panel members

The Chair and the two expert members must be qualified in at least one of the following areas: planning, architecture, heritage, the environment, urban design, economics, traffic and transport, law, engineering, tourism, or government and public administration. The Chair must have expertise in at least law or government and public administration.

The Chair is appointed by the Minister.

The other expert panel members (and alternates) have been appointed by Council from a pool of potential panel members approved by the Minister for Planning.

For each meeting, one Chair and two expert members are appointed.

Community representative panel members

The fourth panel member is a community representative chosen by Council, but cannot be a Councillor.

The community representatives must have knowledge of the area, be able to demonstrate an understanding of the planning process and assessment issues, and be able to represent and communicate the interests of the local community.

The selected community representative represents all five wards across the whole municipality at the WLPP meeting.

Woollahra Local Planning Panel (WLPP) members are:

• Chair - one (1) member appointed
  • Penelope Holloway - Chair
  • Kara Krason - Alternate Chair
  • David Ryan - Alternate Chair
• Expert members - two (2) members appointed
  • Peter Brennan
  • Graham Brown
  • Judith (Judy) Clark 
  • Glennys James
  • Megan Jones
  • Oliver Klein
  • Kerry Kyriacou
  • Lee Kosnetter
  • Helen Lochhead
  • Larissa Ozog
  • Sandra Robinson
  • Lisa Trueman
  • Sharon Veale
  • Heather Wharton
• Community representatives - one (1) member appointed
  • Luise Elsing
  • Nicola Grieve
  • Ronald Schaffer
  • Isabelle Shapiro
  • Malcolm Young 

The Woollahra Local Planning Panel (WLPP) will be holding Panel meetings using conferencing technology.

The NSW Government made changes to the way Local Planning Panels work to make them more efficient and to improve the assessment and determination times of development applications.

The changes are enacted to speed up Panel determinations by:

• reducing the need to conduct public panel meetings for non-contentious matters by applying a ‘10-or-more’ objection trigger for public meetings;
• reducing the amount of modifications going to panels;
• obliging panel chairs to more actively manage development applications (DAs) coming to the panels to reduce panel deferrals and assessment timeframes;
• allowing chairs to bring forward determination on DAs that are experiencing unreasonable delays of over 180 days from lodgement; and
• introducing panel performance measures.

Further information regarding these changes and Frequently Asked Questions is available at Planning NSW.

WLPP meetings will now be broken up into two meetings:

• Public Meeting (Panel members, staff and members of public); and
• Electronic Meeting (Panel members and staff only).

Meetings will then be held on the same day, commencing at 1.00pm on the Thursday for the public meeting, and the electronic meetings will commence at the conclusion of the public meeting.

The Panel will continue to hear oral submissions from residents, applicants and objectors for Public Meetings and then the Panel will move to discuss the matters (in confidential session).

At the conclusion of the public meeting (and the decision making process), the Panel will then consider the matters on the electronic meeting agenda. Members of the public are unable to address the Panel in relation to the matters on the electronic meeting agenda, however are still able to submit late correspondence for the Panel's consideration.

Public Meetings

Members of the public are invited to watch the Public Meeting live, address the Panel by conferencing technology and/or submit late correspondence.

Please follow these important instructions below:

To register to speak at the meeting (register by 12noon on the day before the meeting)

• Please complete the Register to Speak form(PDF, 283KB) and email this to records@woollahra.nsw.gov.au
• Please note: No late registrations to speak can be accepted.

To submit late correspondence (submit by 12noon on the day before the meeting)

• Members of the public are invited to submit late correspondence on an agenda item being considered at the WLPP Meeting. If you wish to make a written submission on an Item on the Agenda, please email your submission to records@woollahra.nsw.gov.au

To watch the video recording of the meeting (post-meeting)

• A video recording of the meeting will be uploaded to Council’s website (by 5.00pm the next business day).
• For further information please contact the Governance team on (02) 9391 7001.

For Electronic Meetings

Members of the public may submit late correspondence for consideration by the Panel.

Meeting frequency

Meetings are held on the first and third Thursday of each month commencing at 1pm.  Check the upcoming meetings calendar for current and future dates.

Applicants and people who make a submission will be notified if an item is being heard by the panel. The panel may elect to undertake site visits on items on the Public and Electronic Agendas.

Applicants, people who have made a submission and other interest people can address the panel.  Late correspondence can be submitted for consideration by the Panel.for consideration by the panel.   Please refer to the details below for further information.

Late correspondence

Late correspondence must be submitted to Council by 12noon on the Wednesday before the meeting via email to records@woollahra.nsw.gov.au.

Quorum and Voting

The four (4) voting members for each agenda item at the panel meeting will be selected by the Chair from the pool of panel members appointed to the WLPP.

The quorum for a panel meeting is three (3) members.

A decision supported by a majority of the votes cast at a meeting of a WLPP (at which a quorum is present) is the decision of the panel.

The Panel Chair has a deliberative vote and, in the event of tied votes, the Chair has a second or casting vote.

The agenda and individual reports for each meeting are available from Thursday afternoon before the meeting from the following locations:

• WLPP Agendas, Recordings and Minutes

Limited copies of the agenda will also be available at the meeting. Minutes will be available three business days after the meeting.