Mr. John Spain:

It is critical that we have greater certainty and clarity. We very much welcome that objective in the planning Bill and we will be making submissions as to how we think that can be further improved. However, for the reasons I spoke about earlier, we think there is a need to retain that power for granting permission in material contravention of the plan in appropriate circumstances. This is particularly where the development plan has not anticipated a particular situation arising which is considered to be very much in the interests of proper planning and sustainable development, or where Government policy has overtaken the plan and has yet to be updated. Notwithstanding the requirement for the planning authority to update its plans relatively quickly following new policy, there will always be some gaps in that.

There is a range of circumstances that arise. For example, there is no provision at the moment and no proposal to have any appeal process for development plans. Development plans do not get everything right and they are not perfect, although they go through a robust process. For example, one of the restrictions in development plan submissions is that people cannot make submissions on the zoning of land at the pre-draft stage and by the time the draft is produced, there is very little flexibility on that. There will always be circumstances that arise so there is a very good planning case to make. The board has the expertise and experience to be able to make the planning judgment in those circumstances and it should retain the power to do so.