NSW councils that improve their development assessment timeframes will have access to a share of $200 million in infrastructure funding through a state government incentive initiative.
The Faster Assessment Incentive program will fund local infrastructure projects for councils that deliver a higher proportion of housing and are reducing their development assessment timeframes or keeping their assessment timeframes down.
Councils across Greater Sydney and regional NSW that deliver more than 1,000 homes between now and 2029 will be eligible for a share of $67 million funding in the first round.
“Councils assess 85 per cent of all development applications and have a critical role to play in delivering the homes we need during the Housing Accord period,” Minister for Planning Paul Scully said.
The Housing Accord period is a five-year commitment – from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2029 – during which the federal, state, and territory governments have agreed to a collective target of building 1.2 million new, well-located homes across Australia.
NSW council league table data shows a 24 per cent decrease in assessment timeframes in the 2024-25 financial year, with DAs now being assessed in 83 days on average – or less than three months. Meaning 69 per cent of councils are now meeting the new ministerial statement of expectations, compared to 49 per cent in July 2024.
“We have applied both the carrot and the stick, and now we’re seeing results. A 24 per cent reduction in assessment timeframes means DAs are being approved and builders can get construction underway faster and reduce costs,” Mr Scully said. “There is more work to do but there is a downward trend in assessment times, while the number of housing proposals are increasing.”
Council league tables are an imperfect measure.
The NSW local government peak welcomed the government measuring councils’ performance on the assessment timeframes of applications, rather than other measures over which councils have no control – such as number of applications lodged and assessed, or the number of dwellings actually constructed. However, Local Government NSW President Phyllis Miller told GN the council league tables on which the government’s assessment is based “are an imperfect measure, and do not tell the whole story”.
“Timeframe performance can vary based on the volume, type and complexity of development applications, and the proportion of those development applications requiring concurrence from the NSW government,” she said. “The league table data also doesn’t account for the days and weeks councils are waiting for responses to requests for additional information and the tables still do not include key data on actual dwelling completions by the government and private developers.”
Nevertheless, Ms Miller – also Mayor of Forbes – told GN the peak welcomes the financial incentives for councils “as this move recognises the significant financial impost that increased density and population numbers will have on our communities”.
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