A new authority to assess applications on behalf of all NSW government agencies sits at the core of legislation designed to shake up the state’s planning system.
The Development Coordination Authority will be “one door to knock on”, said Premier Chris Minns, unveiling the state’s biggest planning reforms in 50 years to media on Wednesday.
Currently, development approvals or reports must be collected from multiple government agencies. “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,” Minns said in a statement.
The Bill – introduced to parliament this week – “is about clearing the path for the right development in the right places, with the right outcomes for the community,” he added.
Noting that 90 per cent of development applications in NSW are for builds less than $1 million, Planning Minister Paul Scully said agencies were too tied up “sweating the small stuff”. “We need legislative reform, and we need support from every end of the political spectrum so that the system that has guided NSW’s development for the last 50 years can guide NSW’s development in the future,” said Scully.
The government has been consulting the opposition during the drafting of the Bill, but the Liberal Party has yet to give the reforms bipartisan support. “The devil is in the detail,” shadow planning minister Scott Farlow said.
With an aim to meet the government’s target to build 377,000 new homes by 2029, amendments to the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 will also:
- Expand complying development, giving councils 10 days to approve small variations on a complying development application, or have it deemed approved.
- Bridge the gap between a full development assessment and complying development, for types of development where strategic planning and community consultation has already taken place.
- Improve the standards and requirements on development applications to make sure planning assessments are proportionate to the scale and complexity of development.
- Standardise conditions to provide more certainty and speed up construction once approvals are granted.
- Amend the objects of the Act to include housing delivery, climate resilience and proportionality in planning decisions for the first time.
Additionally, the Bill will establish the Housing Delivery Authority in law. Through the HDA, developers can bypass councils and apply for approval of housing developments worth more than $60 million.
A seismic shift in how NSW approaches planning.
The reforms have largely received the thumbs up from a number of advocates and stakeholders. Local Government NSW President Phyllis Miller commended the government on its approach to simplifying and centralising the state’s planning processes.
“LGNSW supports genuine and sensible efforts to streamline planning regulation and contribute to increasing housing supply and diversity. We want to work with the government to ensure councils are supported to fulfil their assessment and broader planning responsibilities,” Miller – Mayor of Forbes – said.
“The local government sector has long held frustrations waiting for state agencies to provide advice on development applications and planning proposals, which in turn has a knock-on effect to their timeframes,” Miller added.
LGNSW is particularly pleased to see the introduction of a new authority to act as a clearing house for planning assessments. “Previously, this clunky and inconsistent process frustrated both councils and the development sector alike and led to significant delays delivering planning and housing outcomes across the state,” Miller said.
In its bid to reduce red tape, remove duplication, and speed up delivery, the legislation “represents a seismic shift in how NSW approaches planning and housing supply,” Urban Taskforce CEO Tom Forrest said.
“This Bill sends a strong message to councils that the government will no longer tolerate bureaucratic games that are designed to hold back housing supply,” he added.
Also welcoming the reforms, the Urban Development Institute of Australia NSW. “Making housing supply an objective of the Planning Act is an overdue and common-sense reform,” CEO Stuart Ayres said. “The creation of a one-stop shop gives NSW an authority with the teeth to accelerate approvals from water and other essential service agencies allowing homes to be delivered faster.”
The reforms represent “a major step forward in modernising the NSW planning system,” Katie Stevenson – executive director of the Property Council NSW said. “The reforms will help to clear the backlog of smaller, simpler projects and free up important resources to get on with the more complex projects that drive jobs, housing and economic growth.”
The reaction to the Bill “demonstrates there is consensus that reform is essential,” Scully said. “The broad support we’ve seen shows these reforms are the right step to deliver more homes faster.”
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