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City Plan has extended its range of services to include independent mediation and conciliation.

Our Heritage Director, Kerime Danis, has recently become an NMAS Mediator, accredited with the Mediation Institute to aid in her Expert Witness services in the NSW Land & Environment Court proceedings. Kerime has established considerable skills in the ability to act as a mediator in assisting two or more participants to manage, settle or resolve disputes or to form a future plan of action through a process of mediation, or conciliation in respect of Heritage Planning and Property issues.

How can a mediator help?

The role of a Mediator/Conciliator is to remain independent to the issues at hand, and guide the parties through issues with the aim of reaching a mutually beneficial outcome. Kerime’s extensive heritage planning and conservation knowledge allow her the ability to quickly grasp the issues at hand. In this respect she is able to help the parties to:

• Identify, clarify and seek understanding of each party’s underlying needs and issues in dispute,
• Develop alternatives,
• Generate and evaluate options,
• Negotiate options, and
• Assist parties to work toward reaching a practical and mutually-satisfying outcome, and making a decision(s) .

The advantage of this service is that it relieves existing stretched staff resources. Mediation has the ability to reduce costs as it eliminates the need to outsource the running of a s34 conference or appeal hearing if prior agreements of both parties can be achieved. The savings to budget in staff and dollars can be significant. With the aim of parties discussing and resolving issues, mediation services can be used at any time during the Development Application or Planning Proposal assessment period. Once an application is within the Land & Environment Court System, our services can be invaluable to get the parties talking, with the view to agree to an outcome prior to full hearing.

Should you wish to discuss this service further, or obtain a fee quotation, please do not hesitate to contact Kerime Danis on kerimed@cityplan.com.au

In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, all local Councils are implementing measures to protect staff and the community from the spread of the virus.

Within Sydney a number of Councils have closed customer service centres until further notice, with others reducing operating hours. Within the Hunter, all Councils have already reduced their in-person contact with the public and are doing their best to continue ‘business as usual’, particularly for anything that doesn’t require face to face activities. Most Councils already have e-portals to lodge applications, and many services are available online or via phone.  We have put together a list detailing the status of each Council however, given how quickly things are changing at the moment, we would recommended that you call or email Council in the first instance rather than attend their office if you require planning advice.

All drop-in sessions and face to face community engagement have also ceased as a result of the changes, which may impact the timeframes for approvals or strategies relying on consultation.

We do expect delays as Council staff adjust to operational changes, including migrating staff to working from home arrangements, and disruptions to how – and how often – Councils meet. This may lead to longer determination times, and Councils may struggle to meet the timeframes expected to update their long-term planning frameworks, including the preparation of Local Strategic Planning Statements and Local Housing Strategies.

We are doing our best to support Council staff and our clients through this period of unprecedented disruption. Please refer to our website for further detail and if you have any questions or concerns, feel free to reach out.

It’s been 3 years since the NSW Government updated the NSW population projects. Since 2016 there have been significant announcements on new infrastructure and the location of future housing, influencing migration and access to jobs. The latest data published this week models these changes and gives a different outlook for the future population of Sydney. But where is the biggest change?

In the Western City District of Sydney there will be an extra 150,000 people in 2036 when the 2016 projection is compared to the new series. Penrith’s new 2036 population of 350,000 people is 80,000 higher. Blacktown is projected to get 48,000 extra people. Not every LGA had an increase. City of Sydney’s projection for 2036 has been revised down by 35,000. Canterbury-Bankstown has also been revised down by 20,000.

In a city with so much activity it’s no surprise that projections change. What’s critical is that users of this data reflect on changes and make sure their strategic decisions are based on the latest evidence.

Need some help understating the changes? Give Chris O’Dell a call on 8270 3500.

#westernsydney #populationgrowth #sydney