The proposal to remove local councils from decision-making in relation to all major planning projects, and creating a state government-controlled ‘single front door’ via a the Development Coordination Authority (DCA) has raised concerns.
While the state government is touting the proposed changes as making ‘navigating the planning system faster and easier for applicants and councils’ local mayors have expressed some concerns and reservations.
‘While the intent behind the proposed DCA is understandable, particularly in the context of a severe housing crisis, I remain cautious about how this will operate in practice,’ Byron Shire Mayor, Sarah Ndiaye told The Echo.
‘These changes relate specifically to how integrated development referrals are managed, with the planning secretary acting as the DCA and issuing a single, consolidated response covering concurrences, referrals and conditions from multiple state agencies. While this may appear efficient on paper, planning systems are inherently complex, and speed alone is not a reliable measure of success.’
Conflicting advice
Concerns were also expressed by Tweed Mayor Chris Cherry, who said that she ‘welcomes steps being taken to ensure getting advice back from state agencies does not hold up our development application (DA) processing times. Sometimes it can take months to get referral advice back, Crown Lands is obviously the most understaffed of all, because their response times are notoriously long.’
However, she said, ‘The thing that I do not agree with, in the creation of the DCA, is that when the different governmental departments have conflicting advice, this will now be adjudicated by the planning minister rather than Council receiving all the advice and interpreting it in the context of the priorities of our community.’
‘We need to balance advice from the Department of Primary Industries, who are trying to protect usable farmland, or trying to protect water supplies with advice from the RFS on bushfire risks and the advice from the Department of the Environment that is desperately trying to ensure we do not wipe out any more species. Couple this with directives from the state planning department to accommodate more housing and you need to be strategic about where and how you do this. The current [NSW] planning minister unfortunately appears to have a “develop at all costs and remove community input” kind of mentality, so I am quite wary of the way that the DCA will operate.’
Ballina Mayor Sharon Cadwallader told The Echo that, ‘overall, this is likely to be a positive reform. Better coordination between government agencies — particularly around response times — will be a practical improvement for councils. Our assessment timeframes often include delays from external agency referrals, so a more streamlined and accountable process should help resolve issues faster and give communities greater certainty.’
‘That said, we haven’t yet been provided with detailed information on how the changes will work in practice. The Department of Planning is currently undertaking community consultation through an exhibition process, and we’ll be reviewing that information closely and providing feedback where needed.’
Concerns were also raised about the 28-day target timeframe for DCA referrals compared with the current 60 days. The concentration of decision-making power in a central authority, and ultimately in the planning secretary, also raises governance and accountability questions.
Local input
‘A centralised body may struggle to fully understand local differences, particularly in regional and rural areas, increasing the risk of standardised or desktop-based assessments and conditions that are poorly suited to local context,’ said Cr Ndiaye.
‘This is especially concerning for places like Byron Bay and other communities in the Northern Rivers, where local character, environmental sensitivity and hazard exposure are fundamental to community identity and the local economy. Once these qualities are eroded, they are extremely difficult to restore.’
You can make a submission on the DCA before Wednesday, 25 February 2026 by visiting www.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/draftplans/exhibition/have-your-say-establishing-development-coordination-authority-dca.
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