The New South Wales government has announced major changes to NSW’s planning system in a bid to speed up housing approvals and meet its target to build 377,000 homes by 2029.
“Sydney is the second-least affordable city in the world,” the NSW premier, Chris Minns, said as he announced an overhaul of the 50-year-old Environmental Planning and Assessment Act on Wednesday.
“Families, young people, downsizers, are all negatively impacted by the myriad maze of planning regulations … and it’s having a massive impact on our economy and our community.
“Between 2016 and 2021, Sydney lost twice as many young people between the ages of 30 and 40 as it gained: 35,000 came to Sydney but 70,000 left. This is the next generation of young Australians, the people that we want writing the next chapter in Sydney and NSW’s history.”
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The state government has been talking to the opposition during the drafting process, but it is not yet clear whether the reforms will have bipartisan support. The devil will be in the details, but here’s what we know so far.
Don’t sweat the small stuff
The proposed reforms will increase the types of projects that don’t require a development application to be approved by councils.
NSW already allows “complying developments” – such as two-storey houses, renovations, dual occupancies and townhouses – to be built without formal council approval.
Instead, the development must meet detailed specifications set out in a State Environmental Planning Policy (Sepp). These include things like setback from the street and height. The development can then get a tick from a council or certifier that it meets the Sepp.
The changes announced on Wednesday would allow projects with minor non-compliance issues to be fast-tracked as well. Councils would need to deal with them within 10 days, or they would be deemed to have been approved.
The government says it doesn’t want the planning system “to be sweating the small stuff”.
A middle path
The government plans to introduce a “targeted assessment pathway” for development, where strategic planning and community consultation have already taken place.
Proposals that have already been through a public process – for example, a precinct design process – won’t have to go through a full development application (DA) if they have already consulted.
A single door for major developments
At the moment, a development like a new housing estate needs to deal with up to 22 state agencies, the government says.
Labor wants a single agency – the Development Coordination Agency – to act as a doorway to all approving agencies such as the planning and environment departments, Sydney Water and the Rural Fire Service.
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Minns said that sometimes agencies imposed contradictory conditions on developments. The premier cited the example of the RFS saying trees should be cleared to deal with bushfire risk, while the planning department insisted on trees for cooling.
The government will also enshrine the Housing Delivery Authority in legislation. This means developers can apply to the planning department to take over approval of big housing developments, worth more than $60m, from councils, as state-significant developments.
The planning minister, Paul Scully, said this means the state will have a permanent voice in driving housing in NSW. He said the authority had already declared 240 projects state significant since January, which had the potential to deliver 87,000 homes.
New objects and fewer appeals
The objects of the act will be amended to emphasise housing delivery, climate resilience and proportionality as desired outcomes of the planning system.
The government says it will also “update” review processes and encourage disputes to be resolved outside of the land and environment court. Details are vague, but Scully suggested this could include a review by a different council officer.
Regional planning panels would be abolished. They were introduced to examine “regionally significant developments” so that transport and services kept pace. They were independent of the minister.
Local planning panels, which make decisions on behalf of councils, will remain, the government said.
The NSW opposition leader, Mark Speakman, says the Coalition will approach the bill in “good faith” and consider it in the party room.
“I can’t emphasise enough how pro-housing, how pro-reform we are,” he said on Wednesday.