The NSW Department of Planning put on public exhibition its Green Paper “A New Planning System for NSW” in July this year just prior to all local councils in NSW going into caretaker mode before the council elections.

It is a 92 page document proposing very extensive changes to planning laws and the DA approval process in NSW. Most controls and laws protecting the environment and heritage that have been put in place over the last 30 years with expert advice and extensive community consultation, are proposed to be either repealed or abandoned.

Unfortunately there has been little or no media coverage about the multitude of changes proposed in the Green Paper that has the potential to negatively affect all citizens of NSW.
Comments on the Green Paper closed on 14 September 2012. The NSW Government plans to have a draft White Paper released for public feedback by the end of the 2012.
Below is the Society’s media release and the submission that the Society made to the NSW Government identifying its concerns about the proposals in the Green Paper.
Media release 5 Sept 2012 – Community and heritage disregarded in A New Planning System for NSW

Walter Burley Griffin Society Inc’s submission to the NSW Government on A New Planning System for NSW Green Paper

You may wish to contact/email your local state parliamentarian to also express concerns. The Better Planning Network was formed by concerned community groups, including the Walter Burley Griffin Society Inc. in August 2012.

You can read more and register your concerns at their website (see below)
http://betterplanningnetwork.good.do/nsw/email-the-premier/