Council has responded positively to our letter highlighting the many issues we encountered while dealing with Hardie Holdings development application. (The full details of the letter can be viewed on the April/May issue of the website www.dunoongazette.org)
Because of our concerns and those expressed by other parties from across the local government area the Executive Director of Development and Governance, Brent McAllister has instigated an independent review of the planning department. The scope of the review is to look at current internal planning practices, planning related processes and approaches, particularly the process of assessing development applications. This is being conducted by Pamela Westing, a planning consultant with many years of experience dealing with a wide range of planning and development issues.
Recently we were invited to meet with them to discuss our concerns in more detail. After two hours of discussion we left the meeting satisfied that our concerns regarding the many shortcomings we consider were evident in council’s development assessment process had been taken on board and would be considered as part of the review.
Brent McAllister comes to Council with a fresh outlook and appears to have a different approach to development planning and we are hopeful that he will make some positive changes to the entrenched culture that has existed in the planning department for many years.  
At its May meeting, Council accepted a motion put forward by councillor David Yarnall for the review of the DA planning process to be broadened to accept submissions from the general public. If anyone has any issues with Council relating to Development Applications we urge you to lodge a submission (closing date is Friday 5th June – 4pm). Council will forward the Dunoon Community Group a copy of the report on the review when it is completed in June.  
In the meantime, what can we expect next from prospective developers of the land which Hardie Holdings wanted to develop? The village zoned land will always be available for residential development. We have heard that another proposal, this time from local interests, is in the works, but to date we have heard no details. Will it extend past the village zone boundary and encroach onto prime agricultural land? Will it comply with the Development Control Plan for Dunoon? We can only hope that good sense will prevail; that prospective developers of this plan have learned from the Hardies debacle and will consult with the community before lodging a development application with council. This approach should avoid delays in the assessent of the DA by council staff.
DCG