Government planning review seeks a level playing field
CONCERNS about Noosa's ability to challenge unwanted development have been raised with the Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney by the Member for Noosa and government minister Glen Elmes.
Mr Elmes believes the present parliamentary review of Mr Seeney's proposed amendments to the planning laws, that could see legal costs awarded against unsuccessful parties in the Planning and Environment Court, need to be overhauled.
However he concedes there should be room for compromise to ensure developers, community groups and individuals get fair treatment.
"As with everything, there are two sides to it," Mr Elmes said.
"We've got to try and find a balance between having a situation as it presently stands before this bill comes in where you have extreme environmental groups - and that doesn't apply to anyone here (in Noosa) - that can string development applications along and hold a developer to ransom.
"It gets to a stage where it's all too hard and virtually no development takes place."
He said the State Government was trying to achieve a more even playing field where developers are not too impeded from pursuing applications that fit within the local town plans and other parties can lodge challenges in good faith.
"There is a process they can go through that includes mediation and none of that has costs involved," Mr Elmes said.
"If you go further you have a situation where you have a judge can award costs for - I think the wording is for a vexatious claim, but when you look at the message they and everyone else who turned up sent, it was a message concerned about those costs."
Mr Elmes said he had spoken to Mr Seeney and his chief of staff and "expressed some concerns of mine".
"And I've spoken to the committee chair Ted Malone about it yesterday (last Wednesday) morning - I'm working through it. I hope that we can come to some compromise, but at the end of the day it's the Deputy Premier's bill it's not mine."
