Proposal

Council is seeking feedback on a proposed amendment to Waverley’s Pricing Policy and Schedule of Fees and Charges 2022-23 (“the Policy”). Specifically, to charge applicants of proponent-led Planning Proposals a service fee for an independent peer review of the applicant’s Social Impact Statement (SIS) report.


Description

GST

Unit

2022–23 fee or charge $

Pricing policy

Social impact statement peer review for proponent-led planning proposals

Taxable

per item

5,000–10,000 (to be determined by market rates)

C


Background

The Waverley Local Environmental Plan (LEP) contains zoning and land use information for properties, specifying what land uses are permitted or prohibited on every lot in Waverley. It also contains development controls that outline things such as what maximum building height or floor space ratio a building on each property may construct.

Anyone can submit an application known as a Planning Proposal to Council, seeking to make a change to information under the Waverley LEP. A request to change the land zone or maximum building height of a particular site are examples of Planning Proposals.

Such changes can have social impacts, so as part of the proponent-led Planning Proposal process it is important to undertake a social impact assessment with reference to the Waverley Social Impact Assessment Guidelines. These Guidelines require the submission of a SIS report alongside any proponent-led Planning Proposal.

In order for Council to best assess the social impacts of a proponent-led Planning Proposal, we will seek external advice from an independent social impact consultant in the form of a peer review.

Informed by peer reviews of previous social and economic impact assessments, an external consultant may charge around $5,000 to $10,000 (excluding GST).

The proposed fee for such a peer review is considered to be reasonable in comparison to the wider Planning Proposal application fee which can typically range from $30,000 to $100,000.

On 6 September 2022 Council agreed to publicly exhibit this draft change in accordance with section 610F of the Local Government Act 1993.

How to Have Your Say

To comment complete the below survey.

Survey closes 11:59pm 18 December 2022.