The NSW Government has announced two new pathways which it says could halve assessment times for low-rise homes, which account for 70% of all development applications (DA) in the state.
The pathways, which are now out for community consultation, propose an expansion of complying development and new targeted assessment pathway which would allow more low-rise, low-impact development like homes to be assessed in 50 days or less.
The changes, which have been enabled by the landmark NSW Planning System Bill passed in November 2025, will mean a faster, fairer and more modern planning system for communities across the state, said Minister for Planning and Public Spaces, Paul Scully.
“Building or renovating your home shouldn’t force you to jump through endless hoops. These are common sense changes which will make it easier to build homes, saving people, time and money,” said Minister Scully.
“The planning system has been sweating the small stuff for far too long and pushing low-risk, low impact development like new homes through needlessly complex assessments.
“These changes will halve the assessment time for most new low-rise homes, delivering a great outcome for everyone.”
The pathways being released for consultation are:
Complying Development Expansion
Complying development already allows low-risk applications that meet all relevant development standards to be fast-tracked in as little as 20 days, compared to an average of around 80 days for a DA.
However, much like the housing market there has been a gap in assessments between complying development and a traditional development application.
Currently, a proposal that fails to meet just one development standard for complying development is required to go through a full DA process, bogging councils and applicants down in unnecessary paperwork and adding cost and more than 60 days on average to the assessment process.
A new process for variations to complying development, now on public exhibition, would allow straight-forward proposals with a small number of minor departures from development standards to use the faster 20-day complying development pathway instead of proceeding to a full DA.
Targeted Assessment Pathway
A significant change under the legislation enabled a new Targeted Assessment Pathway, aimed at bridging the gap between complying development and a full development application.
The first Targeted Assessment Pathway discussion paper, now on public exhibition would enable a new low-rise housing code so applications that don’t meet the test for complying development but have met set strategic planning requirements upfront can be assessed in a target timeline of 50 days – half the existing average for a DA.
The new pathway would deliver more proportionate assessment options for housing developments like single dwellings, terraces and townhouses, the Minister said.
Both proposals are on exhibition on the NSW Planning Portal until 24 June. Feedback will directly inform how the targeted assessment and complying development variations pathways are developed and staged.
Read the Explanation of Intended Effect (EIE) on Variations and changes to complying development here.
Read the discussion paper on Low-rise housing reforms and targeted assessment here. The discussion paper is designed to give all users of the planning system a chance to have their say and inform any future EIE that would also go on exhibition.
