City Of Stonnington Takes On State Government Over High-Handed Planning Call-In Powers

(12/3/09 - P) Request for Ombudsman to investigate planning and building approvals

The City of Stonnington Council has acted on what it believes is a usurping of Council powers to make planning decisions, and has formally requested an investigation by the Ombudsman of circumstances surrounding approval given by the State Planning Minister, Justin Madden, for a major residential and retail in South Yarra. Stonnington is the first Council to challenge the Minister's newly conferred powers. Click here to see an article from Sunday's Age about the issue. Click here to see Stonnington Council's resolution referring the matter to the Ombudsman.

MRRA Says:

Well done Stonnington. If the Minister's new call-in powers are about natural justice, good planning, sustainable outcomes and other good things, and not just about giving developers what they want and over-riding objections, we can look forward to the Planning Minister also calling in proposals to decrease scale, save the environment, protect community rights, and refuse approval, right? A bit of balance never goes astray, does it... We do have a government that stands for democracy, principles, and accountability, don't we? Over to you, Minister.