September 08, 2010 at 10:56 AM

Town Planning Applications – Top five things to consider when presenting to council.

This post provides 5 key basic points to act as a framework for you to successfully present your planning proposal at a Council meeting.

Managing the planning permit application process is all about risk management and these points just may avoid a potentially risky, costly and time consuming Tribunal hearing.

The 5 key points are;

1. Review the key documents including the officer’s report and any objections and establish what you think are the key points that need to be made.
2. Determine if there are any other presentation tools you can use to help your presentation to the Council – 3D plans, landscape plans, colour elevations and street scape sketches are all useful and can give the Councillors a ‘real’ impression as to how the development will appear.
3. Ring the planning officer to establish if any Councillors have shown interest – ask what they think will be the key issues to present.
4. Ring the Ward Councillors.  It may be relevant to outline to them the planning process, how you have responded to resident and officer concern and ask what their concerns/issues are.  Remember that the issues for the Councillors are usually going to be focused more on the concerns expressed from objectors rather than how the development may match up against planning controls or policies.
5. From the above four points you can then establish what you need to present to the Council to be most convincing.  Most Council’s provide a short time to present (usually three minutes).  Establish a few key points and present them strongly.

In summary, we suggest you review the main documentation that forms the planning permit application, if possible use presentation aids to assist, talk to the planning officer and Ward Councillors to establish the likely issues/areas of concern and use the three minutes to present clearly and concisely.

If you require any further assistance with your presentation or any other element of your planning permit application, please call Bruce Keen on  03 9596 9000.