Women in Planning

Panellists:Jane Homewood [JH], Liz Johnstone [LJ] Rae Kingsbury [RK]

• [LJ] Respect needs to underpin the relationship between councillors and planning staff


• [JH] Work collaboratively with your planners to create the change you want to see


• [JH] How are you going to meeet the future needs of your community?


• [JH] in your local policy get rid of 'and', and 'and'. Have stand alone sentences that have meaning and are not rendered ambiguous by being paired.


• where do you want to make a difference?


• make your values known to the planners so that they have a sensitivity to them


• [JH] sustainability and adaptation happen at local government level


• [jh] councillors role is to meet the future needs of your community


• [JH] public funds are not going to fund renewal to the extent that is required. Therefore it is necessary to consider the terms on which private investment will be secured to achieve public good
  
• strategic planning is the core business of council


• [JH] analyse every aspect of your dealings with VCAT: how many applications are appealed, how much do you spend, what can you learn from the decisions


• [LJ] planning permit activity reporting data can be exported to Google Earth


• [RK] the role of planners is to give their very best advice. The role of councillors is to make the decision


• [JH] we must bring planning and communtiy development together (if we are to meet the future needs of our communities in a sustainable way)


• [JH] have a good urban designer on staff - (planners don't think 3 dimensionally and can achieve planning outcomes by 'chopping and carving')


• [JH] engage with the process, facilitate good development, celebrate good examples, use templates if helpful

18 June 2009