PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT

The City Council controls most development in the CBD. Those wishing to construct or change buildings must apply for a permit. If you are aware of any planned developments in your area, look at them carefully – in fact you can see the file of any application at the City Council Development Planning Branch.

• one difficulty is that as this is the CBD, the attitude of the Council and the State Government tends to be , ”anything goes”. This means that some applications for developments (eg high constructions, “nightclubs”) are made (and may succeed) adjacent to longstanding residential buildings;
• some permits are approved by the City Council, but then the particular site may remain unused for years. Such sites (which may include derelict buildings) are not only ugly, but often attract undesirable activity (drugs, drinking, camping etc).

We are also consulted by the Council on many other plans and policies – eg Health Policy, parks and gardens, graffiti and so on.

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