MOUNT Gambier City Council has endorsed the formation of a regional assessment panel to assess and approve development applications for the city.
The panel will be formed alongside Grant District, Wattle Range and Robe District councils and will replace the existing council assessment panel.
Elected members were initially reluctant for City Council to be included on the panel at this month’s Economic and Environment Committee meeting, however their position changed at Tuesday night’s full meeting.
Cr Paul Jenner said one of the key drivers of the new regional panel was the difficulty securing professionals to sit on the current council assessment panel.
“We are in a situation that if we do not go down this route, what will happen is, we will have to fly in experts and that will cost a small fortune,” Cr Jenner said.
“We spent a lot of time working through what is best for the region and obviously what is best for the City of Mount Gambier and I concur with the chief executive officer and the manager of planning that this is the best option.”
