Kiama Mayor Cameron McDonald is confident Council will be able to maximise returns on developer applications under the new Housing Strategy after a review undertaken by the governance team into how they recoup fees and charges.

Councillor Erica Warren raised concerns at Council meeting in the May as part of commentary in the community about concerns over developer contributions.

Cr Warren requested an urgent engagement of specialist staff to update the now expired Section 7.11 fees and chares so the Mayor requested a thorough review, also including Section 7.12 contributions.

The review was tabled at this month's Council meeting which delved into the history of the two sections, dating back to 2010.

According to the report, regular reviews had been undertaken by Council staff in recent years and there had been no wrongdoing by any staff or incorrect information given to Councillors.

“It was important to request a comprehensive report to address the history of the Section 7.11 and Section 7.12 contributions applied locally but also as a way to commence conversations about what our local contributions plans might be moving into the future,” Cr McDonald said.

“We adopted the Housing Strategy at the last Council meeting and and Director Paterson has commented that we will be reconsidering those Section 7.11 and Section 7.12 contribution policies because with greater development and greenfield development, potentially, one plan may be much more favourable than the other.”

Cr McDonald said Director Paterson had been in conversation with the South Kiama development and negotiating a voluntary planning proposal, which is essentially an agreement made with developers on what the contributions will be”.

“We won't enter into those unless it's beneficial for ratepayers to enter into those agreements.

“It was helpful from a historical perspective for this report to inform us of what Council's treatment of those contribution plans has been and to provide some education and understanding as we embark on these conversations into the future.

“It's a comprehensive report attached to the business paper. I would hope it answers some of the questions that have been in the community with regards to developer contributions.

“A report like this is a bit of a line in the sand in that we've been presented with the information now.”

Cr McDonald added that Council was committed to ensuring they operated efficiently without secrecy.

“Members of the public heard during the campaign made it clear that we want an open and transparent local government that consults with the community and is at one with the community.

“There has been a lot of grey area with the development contribution discussion in the community so let's try and be as open as transparent about the history of it as possible but also let’s use that report so that we can all be on the same page and make sure that Council is actually trying to maximise the benefit for ratepayers out of any developments that might be at hand.”