The peak body representing NSW councils says the latest housing reforms by the NSW government will increase the powers of developers while reducing the ability of councils to have a say on local planning matters.
In a media statement, Local Government NSW (LGNSW) says the eligibility criteria for the new Housing Delivery Authority (HDA) has ‘generously presented developers with the freedom to exceed development standards by up to 20 per cent, giving greater opportunities for profit-driven land banking, and no mandated requirement to meaningfully provide affordable housing’.
State-led approval pathway
The HDA is a new state-led approval pathway aimed at reducing approval timelines for major residential housing projects across NSW.
According to planning.nsw.gov.au, projects with an estimated development cost of approximately $30 million or more in regional NSW will be eligible.
The government says developers can now choose between the existing regionally significant development pathway (assessed by councils and determined by planning panels) or the new HDA pathway for major residential developments.
Yet LGNSW says the HDA ‘will further weaken the role of community-led strategic planning, while doing nothing to address real barriers to housing delivery, such as land banking, skills and labour shortages and soaring costs of materials and labour’.
LGNSW President Cr Darriea Turley AM said, ‘The new three-person HDA will be receiving EOIs from large developers, and recommending these bypass councils and instead progress through state assessment and ministerial determination’. She added that, ‘There is nothing in the planning system to compel them to build’.
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