The NSW government is continuing to pressure local governments in the name of housing, releasing a guide for best practice approach when reviewing draft conditions of development consent.
The planning circular outlines what the government says is a new proactive step for developments with thirty or more dwellings.
Councils are to provide applicants with the draft conditions of consent for their review during the assessment process, with applicants to have seven days to review the draft conditions and provide the relevant council with any feedback.
The government says the guide will help reduce errors and eliminate the need for some modification applications.
DAs assessed by the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure are reportedly already using the new process.
Planning and Public Spaces Minister Paul Scully says simple errors are leading to unnecessary delays.
The government’s announcement said NSW councils had considered more than 5,250 DAsb in the past twelve months but that nearly 1,000 were lodged with minor errors and inconsistencies.
The issues were only identified post-consent, the government said, resulting in unnecessary and avoidable delays in assessment timeframes.
‘A planning circular will be issued so that typos don’t get in the way of building new homes,’ Minister Scully said in the announcement.
State government lists housing actions
The government’s announcement went on to list a ‘suite of reforms’ introduced ‘to speed up the delivery of more homes’, including:
- The development of the NSW Pattern Book and accelerated planning pathway for those who use the pre-approved patterns;
- The ‘largest rezoning in NSW history’ around transport hubs and shopping centres to address a so-called ‘missing middle’;
- The ‘largest ever’ investment in the delivery of social and affordable housing in NSW;
- $200 million in financial incentives for councils that ‘meet the new expectations for development applications, planning proposals and strategic planning’;
- $450 million to build new apartments for essential workers including nurses, paramedics, teachers, allied health care workers, police officers and firefighters.
‘This is all part of the Minns Government’s plan to build a better NSW with more homes and services, so young people, families and key local workers have somewhere to live and in the communities they choose,’ the announcement read.
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