Planners have warned the ACT Government that its proposed ''super department'' to speed up development could prove a recipe for conflict in the capital.
Chief Minister Jon Stanhope announced yesterday he would establish a land and property services department to replace the Land Development Agency, which sells and develops land on behalf of the government.
The Planning Institute of Australia's ACT chapter warned that elevating a new department could put pressure on the ACT Planning and Land Authority to toe the line, and could be a recipe for conflict.
Mr Stanhope has appointed David Dawes as acting chief executive of the new body.
Mr Stanhope recruited Mr Dawes in 2007 from the Master Builders Association to expedite land releases for more affordable housing.
Mr Dawes, who has also worked in the real estate and service station industries, will oversee the merger of the Department of Territory and Municipal Services' property group and the Chief Minister's Department's strategic project facilitation group.
The Master Builders Association and ACT Property Council, both strident critics of the Land Development Agency's slow land releases, embraced Mr Dawes's appointment.
Mr Dawes will also oversee some activities of a taskforce to speed up school and social housing projects funded by the Federal Government's economic stimulus plan.
Mr Stanhope said the success of the stimulus suggested it could be applied more widely to facilitate development activity in Canberra.
But the planning institute's ACT president, Richard Johnston, said the Government's previous decision to take forward land releases from ACTPLA had been a bad move.
He asked how this latest change would affect the planning authority.
''[There] would be a temptation within a new department, with a broader range of functions and a particular objective to get land releases as quickly as possible, to try ... to bypass the planning process if it perceives it is holding up what it is trying to do. Having the status of a department could give it that little bit more strength to put pressure on the planning authority to perhaps not do the most diligent job ...'' ACTPLA's chief planning executive, Neil Savery, was unavailable for comment.
Mr Stanhope said ACTPLA's role would not changed under the new arrangements. He said the Government had released land too slowly and it was time to review the annual target of 3200 blocks.
While the integrity of the planning regime needed protecting, at the same time the Government had to get on with building and growing the city, he said.
The Government formed an industry monitoring group in February to clear a backlog of development applications, and the latest policy is believed to come from within that group, which includes private sector representatives.
ACT Property Council executive director Catherine Carter said aligning property services in a central agency was an excellent move, as the industry wanted a one-stop shop.
She said the Commonwealth's ultimatum of using development opportunities or losing them applied to the private sector as well.
Master Builders Association executive director John Miller said the Government had progressively improved efficiency in planning and development. ''Mr Dawes has a clear understanding of the commercial realities which confront the building industry and the manner in which the bureaucratic processes impact those realities,'' he said.
ACT Greens planning spokeswoman Caroline Le Couteur said if the Government was trying to flog land faster, it should not bother.
Mr Dawes worked on the proposed $2 billion gas-fired power station and data centre which was scaled down and moved after a resident backlash.
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