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What is this template for?

This template encourages cross-departmental meetings by allowing councils to set a consistent time, place and agenda. The guiding materials in the document facilitate regular meetings between the planning team and internal departments, where planning applications that have been internally referred can be discussed.

The benefits of these meetings include the following:

  • regular time set aside to discuss internal referral matters
  • consistent points of contact between teams
  • ability to resolve simple issues quickly and reduce back-and-forth communications
  • consistent decision-making processes and records of decisions.

Instructions for use

The template can be customised to set a time, place and frequency for meetings, and to reflect your council’s internal referrals processes.

Updating text on the template

The template will need to be customised to include the specific meeting details in your council, including which departments are expected to attend. You may also wish to nominate a chair for these meetings.

You should also add your letterhead or logo/standard headers and footers to identify your council

Where should the template be available

This template is an internal facing document intended to assist staff with meeting facilitation.  The agenda should be saved within council’s internal systems, in an easily accessible location for staff to find and refer to.

Tips to get the most out of this template

For this template to be most effective at your council, we recommend:

  • customising the tool to reflect specific internal referrals processes and the details of the meeting
  • ensure the agenda is understood and agreed to by staff in the planning and relevant internal referral departments. You may wish the reference this document in the Internal Referral Service Level Agreement template.
  • store a copy of the tool where it can be easily located by council staff

Having an agenda for cross-departmental meetings will help to ensure meetings occur consistently and achieve good outcomes.

Page last updated: 01/07/24