Bayside Local Planning Panel
We voluntarily established an Independent Hearing Assessment Panel (IHAP), known as the 'Bayside Planning Panel' on 14 December 2016.
From 1 March 2018, it is mandatory for all Sydney Councils to establish an IHAP under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979. The Bayside Planning Panel is charged with considering Planning Proposals (PPs) of any scale and value, and determining Development Applications (DAs) where the value is less than $30 million, and where there is a potential conflict of interest, or it is a contentious development, or there is a substantial departure from development standards (imposed by an environmental planning instrument), or it is a sensitive development - as further described in Schedule 1 of the Ministerial Direction dated 23 February 2018.
In August 2018, it became known as the Bayside Local Planning Panel.
Statutory rules govern each Panel's operation, through a code of conduct and operational procedures.
Each Panel meeting comprises a chair, two independent expert members and a community member. The Minister for Planning has appointed independent, expert chairs for Councils to appoint to their Panel. Councils also choose two expert members to appoint to its Panel from a pool established by the Department of Planning and Environment and approved by the Minister for Planning. Councils recruit and appoint community members to the Panels.
Panel members are required to be expert in one or more of the following fields: planning, architecture, heritage, the environment, urban design, economics, traffic and transport, law, engineering, tourism, or government and public administration.
Panel chairs are required to have expertise in law, or government and public administration.
Councillors, property developers and real estate agents are ineligible to be Panel members.
The referral criteria for both development applications and planning proposals has been set by the Minister for Planning, and can be viewed on the Department of Planning and Environment's website.
The Chair of the Bayside Local Planning Panel is Ms Jan Murrell, town planner and former Commissioner of the Land and Environment Court. The two expert members for each meeting are drawn from the approved list: Marcia Doheny, Robert Montgomery, Ross Bonthorne, Anthony Reed, Helen Deegan, Greg Wright, Robert Furolo, Stephen Moore, Michael File and Lindsey Dey.
One community representative for each meeting is selected from a group of seven established by Bayside Council: Thomass Wong, Jesse Hanna, Christopher Middlemiss, Patrick Ryan, Amber O’Connell and Dustin Moore.
The Panel typically deals with approximately 120 of Council's development applications per annum from a total of around 850 received. The 730 applications not considered by the Panel are dealt with by staff under delegated authority - for those DAs valued at less than $10m - or by the Sydney Eastern City Planning Panel - for DAs valued at more than $30m.
Panel determinations are made as independent assessments consistent with the Local Environment Plan and Development Control Plans, adopted by Council.
Meetings
The venue for the Bayside Local Planning Panel meetings is normally the Botany Town Hall, corner of Edward Street and Botany Road, Botany.
The Panel meets on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month commencing at 6pm.
If you would like to speak on any matter on a meeting agenda, please complete the Request to Speak application and return it to governance@bayside.nsw.gov.au by noon on the day of the meeting. Please read the Guidelines for addressing the Bayside Local Planning Panel before you forward your request to speak.
Meetings are recorded and live streamed to the community via Council's Facebook page. The agenda and minutes of upcoming and present meetings are available for public viewing.
Car parking is available in the streets surrounding the Botany Town Hall.
Current agendas and meetings can be found via the link below.