Kristina Keneally’s role as minister for Planning and, as of today, minister for Infrastructure, is a chance for the state government to adopt a more effective planning system, one of Sydney's leading urban planners has said.
Julie Bindon, founding director and chairman of JBA Urban Planning Consultants believes that Keneally's dual role is a "logical synergy of portfolios" that could give Sydney the infrastructure it needs to cope with a growing population.
"Hopefully we will see a concerted shift towards proper strategic planning and longer term planning, and away from an emphasis on short-term, ad hoc development approval systems," Bindon told Architecture and Design.
These short-term systems have, according to Bindon, come at the expense of proper, strategic planning for infrastructure. "We see it with transport, ports, energy, water - all of those things need to be brought together in meeting the needs of metropolitan Sydney as it grows."
“You can’t invest large amounts of money in infrastructure without planning for that infrastructure and for the growth of our populations and its needs as one,” she said. “So you get what we call ‘integrated planning’. You get land use integrated with transport integrated with infrastructure and delivery, and that’s something that the past few governments have been pretty poor at doing properly.”
There are concerns, however, over a potential conflict of interest in regards to the approval of critical infrastructure or "part 3a" projects.
"Under our Planning Act, the minister for Planning makes decisions about major projects ... Now here you've got a minister for infrastructure who wants to get a major piece of infrastructure built, being approved, in theory, by the same minister," Bindon said.
It is not yet known, however, if Keneally will or is able to delegate some of these powers.
