Tim Sneesby

Community engagement & town planning: putting the public interest back into planning

Meaningful engagement with the planning system can be an impossible task for many members of the community. Planning decisions can often seem to reflect the desires of industry and not those of the local community.

In this talk, Tim will reflect on the challenges facing communities in influencing NSW Government planning policy decisions, as well as how residents can meaningfully engage with the planning system at a local level – both strategic planning and development assessment. Tim will also discuss the creation of a new Community Planning Advocate role that Waverley Council has recently sought to establish.

About Tim Sneesby

Tim Sneesby is a manager of strategic planning at a Sydney council and an honorary senior lecturer at the University of Sydney. He was recently seconded to the Greater Cities Commission to assist with a vexed metropolitan planning policy of industrial lands. He has worked in an urban economics consultancy in Sydney, as a planner in London and throughout his career has worked with developers. He is a recipient of the Planning Institute of Australia’s National Young Planner of the Year award. His views are his own.