Local Government NSW (LGNSW) has acknowledged the NSW Government’s bipartisan approach to planning reforms, but warned against further “rushed” changes that it says could exacerbate the state’s housing supply crisis.
“While collaboration between all levels of government is crucial in addressing the housing crisis, reviewing the planning system now is poor timing,” said new LGNSW President, Forbes Shire Council Mayor, Phyllis Miller OAM.
“It will serve to create further uncertainty for all stakeholders and would most likely stall housing construction further, as developers may consider delaying projects in anticipation of potentially more favourable outcomes under a future framework.”
President Miller also cautioned against any moves that would seek to scrap or defer the essential infrastructure contributions that provide the infrastructure, green space, pools and community facilities.
“We hear the concerns of the private development sector and both sides of politics need to think seriously about ways to put real dollars into infrastructure and building construction. Communities need housing and amenity to be delivered but must not be made to subsidise the profit of developers.”
“We know councils approve about 97% of all DAs and local councils know their communities best – we know the challenges, the pressures but also the opportunities. We are at the forefront of local planning and are best placed to provide feedback on where improvements can be made.”
President Miller said she had written to the Government and Opposition and continued to seek collaborative engagement on the important issue.
In the first three weeks since the NSW Government’s Housing Delivery Authority (HDA) started accepting Expressions of Interest (EOI) for larger scale housing developments, it has already received nearly 100 proposals with the potential for more than 40,000 homes.
NSW Premier, Chris Minns said 85 EOIs in metropolitan areas and 11 in regional NSW had been received, exceeding Government expectations.
The HDA offers proponents a new State Significant Development pathway and State Significant Development pathway with a concurrent rezoning process – neither having to be approved by councils, cutting approval times and speeding up the delivery of new homes.
Each EOI is assessed against its capacity to deliver high yield, well-located, good quality homes faster, said Mr Minns.
“For far too long, it has been made harder and harder for people to build homes in NSW, so it is wonderful to see these reforms starting to turn that around,” said the Premier.
“Without these major changes that are speeding up the delivery of new homes, Sydney risks becoming a city without a future because it’s simply too expensive to put a roof over your head.
“By speeding up the approval of new homes near existing infrastructure and removing red tape that seems to have been designed to slow down development, we’re delivering the homes that young people, families and workers need.”
Early next month, the HDA will meet to recommend proposals to be declared a State Significant Development (SSD) project, community consultation and assessment will then proceed, Minister for Planning and Public Spaces, Paul Scully has confirmed.
The EOI process is ongoing, providing regular opportunities for industry to have their major residential development proposals considered, with submissions reviewed monthly, he said.
“We expected 80 to 100 EOIs in the first year, so to see this many in less than a month signals trust from the industry in the Minns Government to deliver.”
“Building more homes for NSW is a priority for the Minns Labor Government and the HDA is a major step towards unlocking those homes.
“This pathway is about seeing good quality projects move through the planning system faster and as part of that process, if we don’t see shovels in the ground in two years, proponent will lose their approval.
“The Minns Government is making it easier to build more houses closer to jobs, infrastructure, parks and transport and we need more, quality, large scale residential development proposals from industry to build a better NSW,” Mr Scully said.
