Rethinking public participation: the role of non-experts in the development of third party objection and appeal in the NSW Environmental Planning and Assessment Act (1979)

Public participation in planning assessment in Australia emerged in the context of social and political changes of the 1970s. Increasing criticisms of planning in the rational comprehensive model fuelled by opposition to large-scale construction and demolition, along with the perception of close alliances between developers, investors and State Governments, led to widespread calls for greater consultation in the planning process. Significant community opposition originated in battles over planned destruction of affordable and social housing and green spaces as epitomised in Sydney's Green Bans. By the end of the decade, a reassessment of planning policies at the Federal and State levels saw new directions in land use planning towards the incorporation of public opinion and third party objection and appeal processes in planmaking and planning approval processes.