Planners
What level of Detail is required for Planning and Development Applications?
Discrimination in relation to access to premises is against the law in Australia and carries criminal sanctions. In NSW government planning utilities have been found negligent in their Duty of Care by approving developments that were later found to be inaccessible to a large portion of the community.
Following is a brief extract from the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.
[The DDA'92] As it is complaints-based, disability legislation is open to a more general application of access requirements than the BCA. Court cases, particularly the Federal Court’s ruling on Cooper vrs. Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (1999), have emphasised the responsibilities of planning authorities, developers and building certifiers to consider the DDA principles in the design of new developments.
HREOC Advisory Note
The presence of an Access Audit in a planning application (DA-CC) provides local government with a reasonable level of certainty that the project team has carefully considered providing the required access to that particular stage of the development.
As Local Government is ultimately responsible for approving buildings; it is advisable to request an Access report for any publicly accessible building at the DA stage.
On completion, the works should be assessed against the Access Report and developer commitments to access prior to occupation.
