The peak body for local government in NSW is calling for increased infrastructure spending to support the state’s planning reforms.
Legislation introduced to parliament last week outlines the biggest overhaul to NSW’s planning system in 50 years. Among the proposed changes a centralised agency to act as “one door to knock on” for assessments and approvals.
“For too long, NSW has been hamstrung by a planning system that delays good projects and makes it harder to build the homes our communities desperately need,” Premier Chris Minns said. The Bill “is about clearing the path for the right development in the right places, with the right outcomes for the community,” he added.
In response, Local Government New South Wales has voiced concerns over infrastructure. “Infrastructure remains the key – we need the state government and the federal government to step up on the direct funding and delivery of key infrastructure,” LGNSW President Phyllis Miller said. “There is simply no point in approving and building thousands and thousands of new homes if we don’t have the schools, the hospitals, the roads, the sports fields, community facilities and the sewerage and water infrastructure to support them.”
While broadly welcoming the changes to the planning system, LGNSW is less welcoming of the government’s move to enshrine the Housing Delivery Authority as a permanent fixture. The introduction of the HDA in November 2024 was condemned at the time by the local government sector, which saw it as an attempt to circumvent councils in local decision-making.
“While we acknowledge that, since that time, we have received more information and data around the processes and performance of the HDA, it remains a concern for many councils,” Miller – Mayor of Forbes – said. “The central concern is that major development proposals and ad hoc rezonings submitted to the HDA have no clear links to adopted plans and strategies that local communities have developed with their council.”
Miller urged the government and the HDA to continue to work more collaboratively with councils on all its state-led processes “to ensure that growth and development is balanced and supported with the necessary infrastructure.”
If the amendments to the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 pass parliament, LGNSW will be calling on the government to review the role of the HDA at the end of the Housing Accord period – the National Housing Accord commits all levels of government to build 1.2 million new homes by June 2029.
The peak will also continue to advocate strongly on development completions. “We need the state to drive the development industry to actually deliver on approvals,” Miller said. “Councils have an important role to play in the assessment and approval processes for new housing but we have zero control over whether those houses are ever actually built – that’s something that the development sector needs to improve on.”
Given the magnitude of the wide-ranging changes to the planning system, LGNSW is calling on “robust, transparent and regular monitoring” by the government of the outcomes of the reforms. “Councils want assurances that local government will be involved in fine-tuning the legislation and its implementation so that they complement the genuine efforts of councils to improve their processes”, Miller said. “At the end of the day, local government is best placed to ensure that local communities still have an input into local decision-making”.
Leave a Reply