AGY-424 | State Planning Authority

Full description

The State Planning Authority Act (Act No.59, 1963) received assent on 19 December 1963 and the State Planning Authority was constituted under section 4 (in Part II) on 10 January 1964. (1)

Both the Cumberland County Council and the Northumberland County Council were dissolved on 1 June 1964 (2) and were replaced by The State Planning Authority in accordance with the State Planning Authority Act, 1963 (Act No.59, 1963).

The State Planning Authority was a statutory body reporting to the Minister for Local Government. The Authority was an amalgamation of the functions of the Cumberland and Northumberland County Councils as well as those of the Town and Country Planning Advisory Committee and the Town Planning Branch of the Department of Local Government. (3)

The Authority was charged generally with the responsibility of promoting and coordinating town and country planning and securing the orderly and economic development and use of land. It was required specifically -

(a) to submit to the Minister such proposals for the development and use of land and with regard to town and country planning as it considers necessary or appropriate, including proposals for the development and use of land in conjunction with the provision of utility services and public transport facilities;

(b) to consider, and furnish reports to, and advise and make recommendations to the Minister upon any matter or proposal relating to the development and use of land, or to town and country planning which may be referred to it by the Minister;

(c) to carry out research into problems of town and country planning and prepare and issue memoranda, reports, bulletins, maps or plans relating to town and country planning;

(d) to advise Councils upon all matters concerning the principles of town and country planning and the implementation thereof in local planning schemes.

The Authority undertook a review of the Scheme for the County of Cumberland which was updated in 1968 by the Sydney Region Outline Plan (SROP). (4) The Plan encompassed the area from Wyong in the North, to Colo and the Blue Mountains in the west and to Wollondilly, Campbelltown and Sutherland in the south.

An essential difference between the County Scheme and SROP was that the former was established by legislation. Although SROP was not a statutory plan - " it was more readily accepted by State Government and semi-government bodies. The County Scheme had been resented in some quarters as an intrusion by local government into fields of State Authority" (5)

The State Planning Authority consisted of 12 members appointed by the Governor, being -

* the Chairman and Deputy-Chairman (one of whom should possess prescribed qualifications in town or country planning),

* the Commissioner for Main Roads or his nominee;

* the nominees of the Minister for Transport, the Under-Secretary of Local Government, the Minister for Local Government;

* the nominee of a panel of four comprising members of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects (New South Wales Chapter), Institution of Engineers (Australia), Institution of Surveyors (Australia) and Australian Planning Institute (Sydney Division);

* the nominees of the Local Government Association of New South Wales (being two officers of Councils of areas both wholly or partly within, and wholly outside the County of Cumberland), the Shires Association of New South Wales (being two officers of councils of areas both wholly or partly within, and wholly outside, the Eastern Division within the meaning of the Crown Lands Consolidation Act, 1913), and the Council of the City of Sydney.

With the exception of the Chairman and one other full-time member, the other members of the Authority were drawn on a part-time basis, from local and State Government, with one representative from the professional institutes. The staff of the State Planning Authority were employed outside the New South Wales Public Service. (6)

The State Planning Authority (Amendment) Act 1972 (Act No.40, 1972) which received assent on 11 April 1972, (7) reconstituted the Authority to a body of 16 members, the four additions being representatives of the Minister for Lands, commerce and industry, the Under Secretary of the Treasury and the Director of the Department of Decentralisation and Development. (8)

The State Planning Authority was dissolved on 18 November 1974 under section 18 (1) of the New South Wales Planning and Environment Commission, 1974 (Act No.43,1974), the Act which constituted the New South Wales Planning and Environment Commission. (9)


Endnotes
1. NSW Government Gazette No.131, 27 December 1963, p.3826; NSW Government Gazette No.4, 10 January 1964, p.21.
2. NSW Government Gazette No.68, 29 May 1964, p.1680.
3. NSW Official Yearbook, 1974, p.298.
4. NSW Planning and Environment Commission Minutes and Reports Nov 1974-Aug 1980, Sydney Region Outline Plan Review Vol. 6, p.26 (11/15257).
5. ibid., p.34.
6. ibid., p.2.
7. New South Wales Planning and Environment Commission Annual Report, year ended 30 June 1975, NSW Parliamentary papers 1975-1976, Vol. 4, p.859
8. NSW Government Gazette No.42, 21 April 1972, pp.1386-1387.
9. NSW Government Gazette No.50, 3 May 1974, p.1667; NSW Government Gazette No.113, 19 September 1974, p.3615.

REFERENCES
New South Wales Government Gazette, 1963-1974.
Joint Volumes of the Parliamentary Papers of the Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly of NSW, Sydney Government Printer. 1963-1974
New South Wales Official Year Book, 1974.
Concise Guide, 2nd Edition, "Q-Sup", "State Planning Authority", p.27.