Item 8.1 - Attachment 2

Action Plan

Development Assessment Review

March 2009

Project Statement

At the end of this project we will have a legally robust and transparent DA assessment system where 75% of DAs (including s96 applications) are determined in less than 40 days (net).

Objectives

The objectives of this project are:

§ To understand who are the customers, partners and stakeholders in the Development Assessment process at Parramatta City Council and to understand their needs and expectations.

§ To improve the responsiveness of the Development Services Unit to the needs and expectations of customers, partners and other stakeholders.

§ To create accurate and timely best practice reporting mechanisms including the use of lead indicators.

§ To implement best practice assessment processes.

§ To ensure that the system meets the best practice governance requirements recommended by ICAC.

§ To give stakeholders in the system confidence in the process and the outcomes.

§ To provide certainty in the pre-lodgement process and there is greater certainty in the outcome and result.

§ To ensure that the recommendations and comments of the Design Review Panel and the final assessment of a DA are aligned.

§ Ensure that complete applications are lodged and requests for further information do not occur after the first 21 days.

§ To ensure that at the completion of the “first 21 days” of the DA at PCC that notification, referrals and complete information is finalised.

§ To build a system supported by documented policies, procedures, monitoring actions and review mechanisms.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths

Clearing house – allows for early identification of key issues

Notification timeframes

Overall resources

Corporate knowledge

Pre-lodgement as a process

Staff availability

Reporting systems – data

Electronic documentation system

Electronic referrals

Online DA Tracking

Legally robust system

Weaknesses

Notification accuracy – who and how

Notification policy too prescriptive

Relationship with customer service centre

Feedback from pre-lodgement – completeness; timeliness and consistency

Incomplete applications accepted

Lack of role clarity between duty planner and customer service officers

Lack of defined standards for acceptance of applications

Informal advice by Duty Planner not captured

Capacity of clearing house to identify all issues

Understanding the role of clearing house

Delays from front counter to records

No clear defined policy for first 21 days

Information package for DAs too generic

Failure to identify critical issues early

Task interference in the assessment process eg. signs on sites

No reporting on first 21 days

Management of additional information from referrals

Opportunities

Legislative changes – assist in rejecting inadequate applications in a timely manner

Councillor’s commitment to improvement in assessment times

Economic circumstances – allows time for process improvements

Threats

Applicants with limited understanding of development processes

Constant legislative change

Economic circumstances, greater demand for variation to standards.

Item 8.1 - Attachment 2

Action Plan

Partners/Customers Mapping

IT
	HR	Governance

Communications & Marketing

Interested Parties

Legal Advisors

Executive Team

Asset Managers

SAM

Traffic Committee

MP’s

RTA

Rail Corp

Property developers

Sydney Water

DEC

Police

Consultants

Urban Design

Councillors

Community Services

Assessment

Records

CSC

Property owners

Dept. of Planning

Applicants

Process	Issues	Responses	Actions	Status
Pre lodgement	Consistency Timeliness Completeness Manage Informal Pre-Lodgement Accuracy Capturing of request and Advice given Managing expectations and liability Inconsistency between design review panel advice and assessment and unclear advice from the applicant Lack of clarity when matters need to go back to DRP	Need pre-lodgement policy – address council and applicant’s expectations Define individuals roles in relation to process Involvement of other partners in pre lodgement Pre lodgement template Staff dedication Rostered pre-lodgement days Improve management of DRP - including overview report and DRP report and minutes of the meeting	Develop policy / standards and endorsement by Council	Underway
			Prepare a roles matrix	Pending
			Develop pre lodgement template	Underway
			Prepare job specifications, size positions – OCR assessments	Completed
			Recruit staff – client services to manage pre-lodgement	Pending
			Briefing for partners including internal and external applicants	Pending
			Pick a day	Completed
			Policy for all advice given. This will address information to be recorded and investigate electronic forms (balancing customer service versus minimize risk)	Underway
			Lodgement processes to identify pre-lodgement information	Underway
			Manager to review and sign off on report and minutes before they go to applicants and to attend meeting	Completed
			Client services to assist in managing DRP	Pending
Lodgement	Incomplete applications accepted Lack of detail and poor quality in application - Legibility - Wrong formats/mediums - Lack of detail in SEE Lack of role clarification between customer service officers and duty officers Amended plans not well dealt with Applicants not clear of the expectations	Need to establish clear standards Standards need to be applied uniformly DA Lodgement guide required to give examples of standards Improved checking procedures Establish clear roles and accountabilities Offer better information / briefing to applicants Document the improvements required from customer services and improve relationships and standards of service	Develop the lodgement guide	Underway
			Improve check lists	Underway
			Prepare a roles matrix	Pending
			Develop a lodgement interview process including potential referral experts and policy to be endorsed by councillors (may eliminate need for clearing house) - identify type of applications that should go to lodgement interview - identify the level of review of application at this stage	Pending
			Client services team to manage lodgement processes including receipt of additional information and allocation	Pending
			Group Manager to meet with Group Manager of Corporate Services	Pending
			Service Mgrs meet weekly	Pending
			Integration of the counter with all customer service staff	Pending
			Develop a training package for customer service	Pending
Clearing House	All referral experts not always value adding Completeness Accuracy Delays notification Referring the information from the clearing house to the assessment officer Staff acting in team leader roles not as skilled as team leaders	Referral experts to preview DA and conduct inspections where required prior to CH and where possible provide conditions Checklist to have ‘yes’ ‘no’ response Improve the level of expertise at clearing house Standards of service need to be set Letters to be completed before end of clearing house Improve structure of clearing house, formal agendas and time frames Consider notification commencing as part of clearing house Review skills of all staff Maximum DA issues identified by cessation of CH	Develop a process which follows from lodgement of DA to CH	Underway
			Consult with referral experts	Pending
			Develop new checklist	Underway
			Service level standards to be developed with referrals	Completed
			Standard agenda format and process for CH to be developed	Underway
			Investigate potential to start notification and referrals as part of CH - which includes technology and admin support	Underway
			provide for rotation of other assessment staff through CH to improve skills and knowledge	Pending
			manager assessment to attend CH	Completed
Referral	Timeliness of receipt of comments Consistency in comments / format Uncertainty regarding what DA’s require referrals and to who Systems maintenance level of expertise / experience / required skills set clarity of role of specialist clarity of standard expected Understanding of specialist role in DA process understanding of what can or can’t be included in a condition of a consent (i.e. understand of EPA act) Duplication of referrals to similar referral experts	Clear service level agreement Clear expectations of role and what is expected Clear understanding of referral needs and expertise available	Review of what assessment needs are and review of skills within the organisation	Pending
			Develop a referral matrix to be drawn upon.	Pending
			Develop roles and responsibilities	Pending
			Develop service level agreement and KPI’s	Completed
			Standardized referral template	Pending
			Provide training where required	Underway
			Ensure standard conditions for each referral expert	Completed
Notification	Inflexibility of notification requirements Unnecessary advertised development eg strata subdivision of RFB Delays in commencing notification Built in lag times for ads & newspapers Christmas notifications causes delays Notification of amended plans and lack of flexibility and delays	Review notification policy · eliminate unnecessary advertised development · review timeframes · notification for section 96’s mainly 1A’s · build in discretion · Christmas notifications periods · Amended plans Process to be developed for accepting amended plans and information Investigate ad deadlines, can these be flexible in any circumstances	Undertake review compared to other Councils	Underway
			Prepare briefing paper for Councillors	Pending
			Prepare draft policy for report to Council	Pending
			Draft procedures for handling notification including amended applications and plans	Pending
Reporting Systems	Lag indicators only Reporting to Councillors on improvements Develop systems that show us areas for improvement and current timeframes Inconsistency between Dept of Planning reports and PCC reports	Develop lead indicators for the process Report to Council on improvements and completion of improvement actions Map the timeframes for different applications as required Provide consistent reporting mechanisms	Lead indicators for the first 21 days to be implemented and placed on dashboard	Underway
			Standard report to Council to be prepared	Underway
			Gantt chart reports to be developed	Pending
			Adopt DOP standards to ensure consistency	Underway
Governance	Insuring we have a robust assessment process Inadequate security on Levels 1 & 2 after hours and weekends Computer system is tasked based not workflow based No auditing conducted	Review against ICAC best practice and Wollongong investigation recommendations Look to ways to provide better security for levels 1 & 2 Business rules to prevent the same person completing all tasks Consider ways to introduce auditing	Undertake review and prepare report to Council to consider recommendations to be implemented	Underway
			Discuss with Graeme Copeman re: security improvements for levels 1 & 2	Pending
			Pathways to be reviewed and business rules to be established	Pending
			Discuss with Mgr Service Audit & Review desire for audit of systems and outcomes	Pending

Reform Timelines

First 6 months

Second 6 Months