Local governments and integration
Local governments are well-positioned with particular functions
and attributes that enable them to carry out many of the functions
necessary for integrated transport planning. They have a unique
set of skills that are not available to other levels of government.
| Councils frequently represent the only critical mass of
resources and knowledge to identify community needs and how
to best meet them.(Infrastructure Planning Council,2002) |
This is evident through
- Functions under local government control
- Structure of local government as first tier of government
Function
Local governments also have control, to a large degree, of two
of the most important factors that influence travel demand.
Land use - the distribution and density of the variety of
land uses impacts the distances people travel from home to essential
facilities and is a major determinant of travel demand.
Parking - a major determinant in mode choice and destination
selection and currently strongly influenced through the planning
scheme and development permits.
| "There are many opportunities for local councils to
use the planning process to reduce greenhouse gas emissions….A
major reason has been that approvals authorities for land development
- including local councils - have been reactive: designs are
routinely drawn up by the development company, then councils
or governments formally ratify these, having exerted little
influence on their form.But although councils cannot unilaterally
amend planning schemes, since the planning process always requires
either the eventual approval of the Planning Minister or that
of a body established by the relevant government, they can use
opportunities to work within existing frameworks.In order to
do so, local councils will need to be much more proactive and
seek to set agendas rather than just provide an approvals mechanism
for decisions essentially made before the process begins".
(ICLEI) |
Structure
The particular features of local governments that uniquely qualify
them for this role are:
- Local governments have an intimate relationship with the community
and communication links second-to-none with the community
- Local governments are pivotal to the well-being of the community
and have an overriding mandate to act in the community best interest.
- Local governments have a clear role of community leadership,
and the capacity to take a challenge and provide an example
- Local governments contain many disciplines working together,
and have an opportunity and capacity to integrate functions into
a workable whole that is denied at other levels of government.
- Local governments have the capacity to build community acceptance
and behaviour change to major challenges such as sustainable growth.
- Local governments can share knowledge and work in partnership
with each other, an opportunity denied to the corporate sector
of the economy.
- Local governments have the mandate to work with the community
to set a vision and can then direct resources to achieving that
vision
We strongly encourage local governments to fully appreciate the
mechanisms available and structural advantages to utilise integrated
transport planning to its fullest extent and the opportunity to
significantly influence outcomes across a broad range of local government
activities.
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