Fewer rules for developers in the ACT's new planning act

Under a new plan, the territory's planning directorate will focus on the final result, which could potentially pave the way for skyscrapers in Canberra's town centres in the future.

The ACT's Planning Minister Mick Gentleman said fewer rules would mean better planning outcomes in the future, saying an outcomes-based approach would result in more innovative developments.

Mr Gentleman said the current "prescriptive" act, developed in 2007, had resulted in poor outcomes.

"What's occurred since then is that developers have found ways to meet the minimum criteria for construction," Mr Gentleman said in an interview with The Canberra Times.

"It's become a rules-based, tick-the-box plan and hasn't been outcomes-focused."

Under an outcomes-focused system, Mr Gentleman said development applications would not be subjected to a list of rules they would have to fulfil.

Instead, developers would have to prove the end result would be beneficial for the community.

"I think most of us look at the building form and say, 'We really like that, it's visually appealing, it sits well within its landscape of other construction and there's urban open space around it'. That's a good outcome," Mr Gentleman said.

"And if during the process the developer has gone well I don't tick all the boxes, but the end result is really good, that's what we're trying to achieve - a bit of flexibility for developers to get those good outcomes for us."

Mr Gentleman announced in June the ACT government would introduce a new planning act, which would aim to make the system simpler.

The new act is expected to be introduced to the ACT Legislative Assembly next year.

A major review of the ACT's planning system has been under way since 2019. ACT chief planner Ben Ponton has previously said the current system gives developers a "clear pathway".

Mr Gentleman said when the papers in the current planning act were arranged in a stack it stands at almost one-metre high.

He said a new act would seek to reduce variations. There have been about 370 variations to the plan since 2007.

"I hope that you could encompass most of future construction in a new act, and a new territory plan where you wouldn't have to vary it all the time," Mr Gentleman said.

"The reason you have to vary it is because of all the codes and rules that have been put in place.

"It's been done because over the years people have seen something that they didn't like or it wasn't a good outcome so they've tried to manage it by introducing a new rule. That's why it's become very prescriptive and there's very little flexibility."

A new planning act could even open the potential for skyscrapers in town centres such as Belconnen and Woden, but Mr Gentleman stressed this was unlikely to happen in the immediate future.

"Places like Woden you may see that [skyscrapers], or Belco," Mr Gentleman said.

"I don't know that you'll see what we see as skyscrapers in the not-too-distant future, I think that's a little way off for Canberrans."

While the new act would create greater flexibility, developers would still be governed by the National Capital Plan, including a rule that prevents buildings within Civic from being taller than Parliament House's flagpole.

The tallest building in Canberra is in Belconnen. It stands at 27 storeys and was completed last year and was built by Geocon.

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