The Urban Developer
AdvertiseEventsWebinars
Urbanity
Awards
Sign In
Membership
Latest
Menu
Location
Sector
Category
Content
Type
Newsletters
Interested in a Corporate TUD+ Membership? Access premium content, site tours, event discounts and networking opportunities
Interested in a Corporate Membership? Access exclusive member benefits today
Enquire NowEnquire
TheUrbanDeveloper
Follow
About
About Us
Membership
Awards
Events
Webinars
Listings
Partner Lab
Resources
Terms & Conditions
Commenting Policy
Privacy Policy
Republishing Guidelines
Editorial Charter
Complaints Handling Policy
Contact
General Enquiries
Advertise
Contribution Enquiry
Project Submission
Membership Enquiry
Newsletter
Stay up to date and with the latest news, projects, deals and features.
Subscribe
ADVERTISEMENT
SHARE
13
print
Print
OtherRenee McKeownThu 16 Jul 20

NSW Reforms Cut Red Tape, Planning Times

6d98dcdd-77d3-44b3-bc26-dd6685d123f0

The New South Wales government will spend $83 million on a long-awaited reform of state’s planning process, cutting the time and paperwork required for developments.

The NSW Planning Reform Action Plan aims to drop the time it takes to make decisions on rezoning from an average of 630 days to 439 days; for larger and regionally significant projects from 364 to 273 days and for state significant projects from 118 to 98 days.

The government has also recently invested almost $10 million to enhance its ePlanning platform and ensure all councils can get online to process development applications in half the time, with greater transparency.

The announcement has already received positive feedback from advocacy groups and project managers who said the changes should have been made decades ago.

Planning and public spaces minister Rob Stokes said the change would cut unnecessary duplication of processes and boost resources in the government’s assessment team.

“New South Wales government agencies are also on notice as part of this plan both to reduce the number of unnecessary concurrences and referrals cases, and reduce those that are outside statutory timeframes, with support from the newly-established Planning Delivery Unit that is unblocking projects that are stuck in the system,” Stokes said.

Shane Geha, managing director of property advisory business EG Advisory, said although the state government had made many previous laws with good intentions, they did not translate to planning productivity.

“It defies logic how slow it goes,” Geha said.

“We’ve got two systems designed for the early twentieth century, superimposed on each other in our system, trying to run in the twenty-first century.

“All they’ve done is add new rules, without taking any out.

“If we can somehow get this [new planning system] right it will be the biggest help,” Geha said.

The UNSW adjunct professor said he had heard of people taking three years to get a carport approved and having to supply traffic reports, and the timeframe and paperwork scaled upwards for bigger projects.

“There is a state-significant matter I’m doing at the moment [...] I’ve now done nearly 14,000 pages of reports, surely it has been considered to death,” Geha said.

Urban Taskforce chief executive Tom Forrest welcomed this fundamental change in direction for NSW planning.

“The announcement of a merit-based appeal mechanism to the Land and Environment Court, when local councils reject planning proposals for the rezoning of land, is particularly welcome,” Forrest said.

“The planning system has largely ignored the legitimate role of rezoning proposals to enable flexibility and accommodate changes in economic circumstances for too long.

“The silver lining of Covid-19 is we are now getting a planning system which is driving the economy forwards, not holding it back.”


HotelIndustrialRetailResidentialAustraliaPolicyPlanningPlanningSector
AUTHOR
Renee McKeown
More articles by this author
ADVERTISEMENT
TOP STORIES
Fraser and Partners founder Callum Fraser
Exclusive

Saving Our CBDs: Architect’s Blueprint Paves Way for Office-to-Resi that Works

Leon Della Bosca
8 Min
Exclusive

Watchdog’s Court Loss Throws Spotlight on Union Balancing Act

Clare Burnett
6 Min
Time and Place's The Queensbridge Building at 90 Queens Bridge Street in Melbourne's Southbank.
Exclusive

Innovation Keeps Time & Place’s Southbank Skyscraper Rising

Marisa Wikramanayake
6 Min
Breathe Architecture founder Jeremy McLeod in front of his Featherweight Home design
Exclusive

Nightingale Founder’s Bid for Affordable Architectural Kit Homes

Leon Della Bosca
7 Min
Shibuya Miyashita Park wide city aerial view HERO
Exclusive

Land of the Rising Fun: Skypark Shows the Magic in the Margins

Leon Della Bosca
6 Min
View All >
The WA Government has joined the scramble for builders, putting out a tender for 14 build-to-rent projects to deliver more than 1100 homes across Perth.
Residential

WA Joins Hunt for Builders with 14 BtR Projects on Offer

Renee McKeown
Real Estate

Castle Group $119m Deal Pads Out NSW Pipeline

Lindsay Saunders
Fraser and Partners founder Callum Fraser
Exclusive

Saving Our CBDs: Architect’s Blueprint Paves Way for Office-to-Resi that Works

Leon Della Bosca
Cheaper, faster, greener. Callum Fraser sees something in the rows of half-vacant blocks in city centres most don’t: opp…
LATEST
The WA Government has joined the scramble for builders, putting out a tender for 14 build-to-rent projects to deliver more than 1100 homes across Perth.
Residential

WA Joins Hunt for Builders with 14 BtR Projects on Offer

Renee McKeown
3 Min
Real Estate

Castle Group $119m Deal Pads Out NSW Pipeline

Lindsay Saunders
2 Min
Fraser and Partners founder Callum Fraser
Exclusive

Saving Our CBDs: Architect’s Blueprint Paves Way for Office-to-Resi that Works

Leon Della Bosca
8 Min
Tottenham Warehouse Centuria EDM
Industrial

US Interest Underpins $33m Melbourne Warehouse Buy

Clare Burnett
2 Min
View All >
ADVERTISEMENT
Article originally posted at: https://theurbandeveloper.com/articles/nsw-slashes-planning-times-cuts-red-tape