Government cracks the whip for stragglers
North Sydney Council has been ranked the second slowest for development application (DA) processing out of all urban councils.
Councils are being held accountable for their processing speeds, as the State Government pushes to speed up housing construction in its bid to increase supply.
North Sydney took an average of 249 days for residential DAs, with Willoughby fourth slowest, at 219 days.
A spokesperson from North Sydney told NL: “Council is surprised by the data released by the government, as the processing times and numbers do not correspond with our own records. We are currently investigating why this is so.
“Nonetheless, we are committed to transparency and accountability, and are working to improve our DA processing times and reduce backlogs.”
North Sydney put delays down to staffing issues, challenges with the NSW Planning Portal and a backlog of older DAs, but is confident that with improvements, it will achieve faster processing.
An updated Statement of Expectations Order, effective from 1 July, has a new benchmark for processing speeds, while the government’s league table will monitor performance.
Councils now have 115 processing days from lodgement to determination, but this benchmark will reduce each year, so by 2027, DAs must be completed in 85 days.
If councils consistently underperform, they may be issued with a performance improvement order, outlining actions for improvement.
The government has committed to providing 377,000 new homes by 2029, and said it needed to work with councils to reach this target.
Planning Minister Paul Scully said that tracking council performance was ‘critical’ to meet housing targets.
Willoughby Council has been reviewing and upgrading its DA systems for the last 18 months, which it hopes will see a reduction in assessment timeframes. Acting planning and infrastructure director, Mitch Noble, told NL that there were a number of reasons why it had slower DA assessments. “Many of the applications don’t comply with the planning controls, requiring a more detailed merit.” He added that Willoughby experienced numerous appeals in the Land and Environment Court – over 30 at peak. “Appeals place significant administrative burden on planners who would otherwise be assessing (DAs).”
