Region. Funds for controversial panels

The NSW Government has allocated $2.4 million in the 2009/10 budget to establish, operate and administer six new Joint Regional Planning Panels across NSW, from July 1. The panels will consist of three State Government appointed members and two nominees from the relevant local council. “It will be the job of the panels to stand in the shoes that previously would have been occupied by a council or myself, and make decisions on projects significant to a region,” the Minister for Planning, Kristina Keneally, said. “The stripping away of councils’ basic planning authority by expanding the powers of these panels, is not on,” said Clr Alison McLaren, president, of the Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (WSROC).