State to decide LEP changes
TWEED Shire Council has revealed it could be years before changes to the Local Environment Plan are approved by the New South Wales Government.
Council recently voted in favour of changing its LEP to limit building heights to three stories in some parts of the shire and also to prohibit commercial water extraction.
But council's acting planning director Iain Lonsdale said the state government's evaluation period of the changes might take some time, estimating it could take 12-18 months before the changes are able to be made - if at all.
"A quick planning proposal, that doesn't have any hiccups, probably takes seven months,” he said.
"If the community isn't happy about building heights, then that LEP is probably going to drag on a little bit and we could easily expect two years (until a decision).”
Mr Lonsdale also addressed community concerns about two existing development applications for water extraction.
"The way the (state) government approaches that is, if it was legitimate when they lodged their DA, it should be given a fair go and that's what the savings provision does,” he said.
