The NSW government has introduced new league tables and a statement of expectations to rank councils on their development application assessment times, the Property Council reported.
The move aims to tackle the housing crisis by ensuring timely approvals.
In the fiscal year 2023-24, Liverpool Council recorded the slowest average assessment time, taking 256 days for 730 applications.
Narrandera Council, meanwhile, led with the fastest average determination time of just 20 days for 48 applications.
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The Central Coast Council assessed the most development applications, totaling 1,614, with an average assessment time of 140 days.
Katie Stevenson (pictured above), executive director of the Property Council of Australia NSW, acknowledged the improvements made by some councils but emphasized the need for further progress.
“The release of this league table is imperative so that newly elected councils can hit the ground running with a clear understanding of their performance and the improvements needed, and to help maintain NSW’s profile as an attractive environment for investment,” Stevenson said.
She highlighted the importance of the new performance monitoring measures.
“Introducing greater performance monitoring into the planning system is a sensible step to turbocharge state and local government assessment of new housing projects and see how we are tracking against our interstate counterparts,” Stevenson said.
Starting in August, the referral times for regionally significant development applications will be published, followed by state significant development assessment timeframes for infill affordable housing in September, and TOD accelerated precinct assessment timeframes in 2025.
This will ensure accountability for the state government’s performance as well.
As part of the Faster Assessments program, the NSW government has allocated $200 million in financial incentives for councils meeting the new expectations.
Councils that consistently underperform may face performance improvement orders from the minister for local government, mandating specific actions to enhance their performance.
The introduction of these measures is seen as a crucial step in addressing the housing crisis and ensuring that development applications are processed efficiently across NSW.
“The housing crisis is real, and it is time that applications were processed with the level of vigour and velocity that matches the urgency of the need to deliver new housing,” Stevenson said.
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