Here, at last, is the real Simpson agenda - to abolish or emasculate local government. He wants uniformity across local governments - so local governments become nothing more than rubber stamps for what State government wants.Samuel Johnson said in 1775 that "patriotism is the last resort of a scoundrel". I am inevitably forced to observe that "consistency is the last resort of the unimaginative and uniformity is the last resort of the unintelligent".
Does Homer really think that the same rules should apply in rural Serpentine-Jarrahdale as in inner-urban Vincent?
Does he not realise that higher densities require different management of development and activity?
Most important, does he have no concern with diversity of amenity and experience across the metropolitan area?
The issues raised by Simpson are a mix of State requirements (through the Residential Design Codes), local laws (not bylaws, which went out when the 1995 Local Government Act came in) and local government policies.
The Residential Design Codes have effect through the Town Planning Scheme, which also has to be approved by the Minister for Planning. In some cases (eg Subiaco Pavilion), the Minister for Planning has forced a local government to change its Town Planning Scheme to enable the approval of developments beyond the scale allowed by the existing scheme - which he or his predecessor approved in the first place.
No comments:
Post a Comment