Region. Urgent meeting on planning panels

The Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (WSROC) has called for an urgent meeting of planning directors of the region’s 11 councils, before the NSW Government’s Joint Regional Planning Panels (JRPP) come into effect on July 1. “The stripping away of councils’ basic planning authority by expanding the powers of these panels, is not on,” said WSROC president, Clr Alison McLaren.“The panels take away the power of the elected people to represent their constituents in major development issues”. She said the JRPPs could make the planning system more costly, time consuming and confusing.