Greens Minister Shane Rattenbury has bowed to pressure from community and heritage groups and persuaded the ACT government to delay passing its new planning laws on Tuesday while it consults more widely.
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The ACT Assembly will agree in principle to the new planning regime on Tuesday morning - with opposition from the Liberals - but Chief Minister Katy Gallagher has agreed to refer it to a committee before the detail is finalised.
The law will allow the government to declare special precincts and significant projects for which it can fast-track approval, bypassing heritage and tree protection rules and removing appeal rights.
The Liberals will oppose the bill, planning spokesman Alistair Coe saying it simply handed more power to the government, creating ''conditions more similar to the Wollongong City Council than to those of a good planning system''.
''In one motion, the ACT government can approve any building anywhere, regardless of what the Territory Plan says,'' he said. ''That's a lot of power to rest with the government and potential abuses of that power could easily occur.''
Mr Rattenbury said some groups had raised concerns in the past few days that warranted further consideration. The government was keen to pass the legislation quickly to get the mental health unit in Symonston built, so the committee would report back on May 6.
One of the first projects to come under the new regime is expected to be Capital Metro, the light-rail track down Flemington Road and Northbourne Avenue.
If Northbourne Avenue and the buildings each side are declared a special precinct, a suite of heritage nominations will effectively be annulled, putting an end to the Heritage Council's work on protecting buildings each side of the road, including public housing blocks.
Asked about those heritage nominations, Mr Rattenbury said, ''They are clearly part of Canberra's heritage and we need to think carefully about how we can respect that heritage while at the same time improving the urban density of the city and improving the quality of the accommodation.''
The National Trust wrote to Ms Gallagher on Monday, urging her to consult more widely. The ACT Planning Institute made a similar call.
Some residents of the inner south are concerned that if Capital Metro is extended south of the lake in future, it could impact on other heritage precincts around Wentworth Avenue and Canberra Avenue.
Inner South Canberra Community Council chairman Gary Kent said the legislation had ''crept up on people'' without consultation. ''We have a lot of heritage precincts in the inner south and we would be very concerned if they were just funnelled into this fast-track process and decisions made over which we have no right to appeal,'' he said.
''It appears to us that having the Assembly as the effective final arbiter politicises planning in a way that it shouldn't.''
Planning Institute ACT president Viv Straw said the bill was a major restructuring of planning that reduced checks and balances, and left the government able to ''self-approve'' its own projects.
The government argues the new system is more transparent, because under the current system the minister can ''call in'' projects and approve them, whereas the new laws require special projects to go to the Assembly for approval.
But Mr Straw rejected the suggestion, saying it would mean a much less transparent planning system with big planning decisions made in cabinet and subject to cabinet confidentiality.
Mr Coe said the bill added a layer of complexity to an already incomprehensible planning system.
The National Capital Authority has set up an expert ''design review panel'' to provide independent design advice on major projects - first, the west basin ''city to the lake'' project, but likely to also include the redesign of Northbourne Avenue for the rail line. The authority is responsible for giving works approval for a new-look Northbourne Avenue.