New South Wales Planning Minister Frank Sartor has released details of a new reporting system to assess council performance on planning matters.
The new reporting system comes after a recent survey from the Residential Development Council which found that there is a high level of public dissatisfaction for the current local government process and local councillors.
According to the survey, two-thirds of Australians support the creation of a new property development assessment system that would reduce the politicisation of development assessment by local government councillors.
Sartor said the indicators were developed in consultation with the Local Government and Shires Association, following the introduction of reforms intended to make councils more accountable to ratepayers.
Sartor said this new system will help identify systemic problems and specific bottlenecks at councils across the State.
“Councils deal with 125,000 development applications a year – or about 340 a day.
“These delays can cause considerable frustration for families wanting to renovate, or businesses trying to invest and create new jobs for NSW,” he added.
As part of the changes of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment Act 2006, which commenced operation on June 30, councils will be asked to provide information including:
- Numbers of development applications in separate categories;
- Approval or refusal numbers;
- Average and median processing times;
- Legal costs;
- Number of court appeals, and outcomes;
- Significant departures from an officer’s recommendation;
- Numbers of certificates issued after approval.
Councils will also be able to provide comments on factors that affect application processing, such as sub-standard applications and compliance with plans and policies.
Sartor said the Government wants to work with councils to fix these problems, and will only intervene as a last resort.
Last month, the NSW Government intervened and took over the Kent Street Brewery site in Sydney, which has been earmarked for an $800 million redevelopment.
While the Sydney City Council labelled the intervention as a “blatant cash grab”, Sartor said the project had been tangled up in red tape at Town Hall for three years.
“This is a landmark redevelopment across four city blocks near the biggest railway station in NSW.
“I fear it’s heading for an inferior design outcome – and this important site deserves better,” Sartor said last month.
The Sydney City Council responded and said the move by the Minister is all about looking after developers at the expense of the community and open accountable processes.
“No council or community is safe from this minister or this Government and the powers they have handed themselves to take over what they failed to win by democratic elections.
“It’s the Cross City Tunnel up front payments all over again. The sole reason for this intervention is so the State Government can get its hands on at least $30 million from this development in this blatant cash grab,” the Council said.
“The City has the fastest DA processing times of any Metropolitan Council in Sydney. The Minister took eight months to direct the Sacred Heart DA to the City which determined it within three.
“Who’s holding up development? Not us,” the Council added.
By Adam Parsons
