Australian Financial Review, 18 Feb, 2012

What are the drivers to improve?

Councils are also required to constantly report on their performance….

What is STEP planning?

• The STEP planning program is a low cost, structured and supported way to regularly review and demonstrate improvement to planning services.

• The STEP planning process improvement program is the newest MAV STEP program developed cooperatively with councils.

What are we trying to achieve?

Which Gippsland councils are involved?

Bass Coast Shire Council

Baw Baw Shire Council

Latrobe Shire Council

South Gippsland Shire Council

What have we found to be common issues with referrals?

Planning permit complexity

Input phase

Internal referral responses

Streaming permit applications… they are not all the same

4 major pathways

How many applications are affected by referrals?

Council % Referral

How many referral authorities?

Bass Coast 50% 10

Baw Baw 37% 9

East Gippsland 48% 8

Latrobe 64% 8

South Gippsland 53% 10

Wellington 70% 10

Gippsland average 54% 9

Rural average 48%

Referrals have a major influence on permit timeframes

Average is always higher

Timeframes often blowout

Responses are inconsistent

Average response time can be high….. This

process is lengthy and highly variable

This process is in control…..

With data comes responsibility….

• Councils now have a better understanding the influences on their business processes and are taking actions to improve their efficiency.

• Looking first at getting their ‘own houses’ in order – Pathways 1 and 2.

• Looking to the MAV/State Government/Referral Authorities to identify and broker improvements to referral processes.

Thank you