A proposal championed by Howard Jones and Roger Lyle, and supported by community forums, to increase the amount of information about DAs easily available online will be progressively implemented by Council.

As previously reported in The Bugle, the pair investigated best practice used by other councils to come up with a comprehensive set of improvements.

These have largely been accepted by Council, with further investigation on implementation required for some.

“We’ve had a few issues recently that we probably would have managed to avoid if we had locked in some of these benchmark best practices that have been suggested by the precincts,” said Councillor Andrew Sloan in proposing the motion.

“Staff have suggested an action plan going forward, and we will soon be best practice with regard to community consultation.

“The public will be able to see all the documentation associated with DAs, and they will ultimately be able to comment online.”

Mayor Mark Honey said this was a great example of positive community input leading to a better outcome.