Council
3 December, 2025
LPPs a ‘significant and unexpected development’: Yass
Yass Valley Council has added its weight to the growing chorus of concern over the NSW Government’s new Planning Systems Reform Bill.
Yass Valley Council has added its weight to the growing chorus of concern over the NSW Government’s new Planning Systems Reform Bill.
The Bill – described as the most significant overhaul in the state’s planning system in more than a generation – has been panned by local government since its adoption in May.
Councils say the introduction of local planning panels (LPPSs) will strip elected councillors of their decision-making powers in relation to development applications.
The Bill was primarily designed to speed up housing supply but councils say the introduction of LPPs was never discussed and caught them completely by surprise.
Yass Valley Council says it has come as a “significant and unexpected development” and has vowed to fight the changes.
As previously reported in The Southern Wire, the Planning Systems Reforms Bill will see development-related decisions placed in the hands of Local Planning Panels (LPPs).
The make-up of the panels will include an approved independent person (with relevant experience) appointed as the chairperson, two other approved independent persons with relevant experience and a representative of the community who is not a councillor or a mayor.
Councillors, property developers and realtors will all be ineligible as panellists.
Yass Valley Council resolved at its November meeting to oppose any move by the State Government to remove councillors from the decision-making process relating to DAs.
If the State Government is committed to the implementation of LPPs, it wants “immediate inclusion” of councillor representation and funding to help with their on-going operation.
Goulburn-Mulwaree mayor Nina Dillon has previously described the Bill as an “erosion of democracy” and has said she would follow the advice of metropolitan mayors and “fight like hell” to keep decisions relating to DAs in the hands of people who have been democratically elected.
Many city-based mayors have described LPPs as an abject failure.
LPPs are already in place in Greater Sydney and in Wollongong and one was established in the Wingecarribee after it was placed in administration.
The NSW Government’s Planning Systems Reform Bill 2025 passed both houses of Parliament on May 12.
It has been described as the most significant overhaul of the Environmental and Planning Assessment Act 1979 in more than a generation, paving the way for a faster, fairer and more modern planning system.
“These reforms will help us build more homes faster, in the right places, giving young people and families the chance to access a home,” Premier Chris Minns said in a media release issued on November 12.
The media release lists a number of ‘key reforms’ but makes no mention of LPPs.
Local Government NSW (LGANSW) has also raised concerns about the changes.
Former LGANSW president Phyllis Miller OAM said she had “reiterated to the Minister (for Planning) that locally elected representatives must be retained on planning panels”.
Local government sources have told The Southern Wire that only a small number of development decisions – ranging from between one per cent to three cent – are actually made by elected representatives.
Goulburn-Mulwaree mayor Nina Dillon has previously said that it was the small number of DAs that come before council that potentially have the biggest impact on the community.
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