There's far too much red tape
IT is my understanding that town planners working for or on behalf of local government authorities are generally there to assess proposed developments. To ascertain whether or not a proposal meets the requirements of the all relevant state or national legislation, pertaining to their councils jurisdiction and the project being assessed.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Therefore you would think, that if the developers employed their own town planners or experts to design and plan their development to be in compliance with the relevant legislation there would not be any problem.
Obviously this is not true because we are constantly reading in The Examiner about too much red tape and the need for reform.
In years gone by most legislation was prescriptive or process based. However, the regulated were not happy with prescriptive legislation, so now we are moving to more performance based legislation.
This provides a degree of freedom to the regulated to determine how they will achieve compliance, which in turn leaves the general public bewildered and without clear outcomes creates plenty of work for the so called experts who are capable of "making a mountain out of a molehill".
Bob Taylor, Trevallyn.
Riding roughshod over the law
ONCE again, Westbury Region Against the Prison has forced the truth out from behind the barriers set up by the government to hide its mistruths.
Right to Information documents mined out of DPIPWE's vaults by WRAP clearly show that the government's obsession with building a northern prison at Westbury can't go ahead.
Minister Archer continues to disguise the truth by asserting that the prison only requires 13 hectares, but conveniently fails to mention the 19 hectare buffer zone required to surround the 13 hectares that would completely overwhelm legally protected wildlife land.
If this was a school exercise, the government would receive a fail, resubmit grade.
They need to go back to their list of sites that had the required "expressions of interest" lodged, or go even further back to the start and do the job properly without hidden agendas and shady deals.
If they come up with another Westbury site then the situation would be bizarre at the very least.
This is a prime example of the government's willingness to ride roughshod over the law, and really demonstrates the dangers involved with the Major Projects Bill.
Gilly Bellarosso, Westbury.
Still jumping through hoops
POLITICIANS are slow moving at times and the restrictions on the growing of industrial hemp demonstrate this fact (The Examiner, August 20).
Industrial hemp is a different product to medicinal marijuana. It has no narcotic effect, but politicians seem slow to grasp this fact. The result is that a lucrative cash crop which could be widely grown throughout Tasmania is unfairly restricted.
Industrial hemp, or more particularly its seed produces an oil important in the cosmetics industries and for such things as soap making.
The stalk of the plant can be combined with cement to make hempcrete, an excellent insulating building material, or it can be trashed into soil as a conditioner, or even used as a raw material for paper making.
It makes no sense that growers have to jump through so many hoops.
Dick James, Launceston.
Nursing study frustrations
I FIND it extremely frustrating as a first year nursing student that most other schools in Tasmania are open and we have no community transmission, but we are still expected to study from home. I do not understand the reasons for online study as we have been told we were going to return to campus as of this semester. Students will be paying thousands for an online zoom meeting, which is not giving us the hands-on training we need.
Ashton Donaldson, Exeter.
New Spirit vessels
ABSOLUTELY build it local. Tourism will be slow to respond post COVID-19 unlocking, so what's the rush?
Rusty Cook, Lilydale.
What do you think? Send us a letter to the editor: