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The NSW Government has set up a new Housing Delivery Authority to bypass local council approval and fast-track approval times for new housing projects.
The government says the new approvals process will take effect early next year and apply to new developments worth more than $60 million (100 or more homes) in Greater Sydney or $30m (40 or more homes) in regional NSW.
This process will be overseen by the new Housing Delivery Authority (HDA), established within the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure.
NSW Premier Chris Minns describes the reforms as “huge” but necessary.
“For over a decade in NSW, governments have made it harder to build the homes we need, not easier, but this cannot continue if we want to be a city that young people can afford to live in.
“NSW needs significant new housing supply near existing infrastructure but at the same time too many well-located areas in Sydney have put too many barriers up for too long.”
Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Paul Scully says “the state is taking control of major housing projects so that they … get through the assessment process much faster”.
“The former government increased red tape so that getting approval to build homes has become incredibly hard,” he says.
“The NSW Government will do whatever it takes to build a better future for NSW so young people, families and workers have somewhere to live.”
The Minister for Planning remains the consent authority for projects through this pathway.
The government says proposals that fit this pathway will not be considered by councils for development and that such proposals can be chosen through an expression of interest (EOI) process.
The government also intends to fast-track the rezoning approval process by cutting out local council approval for projects.
These projects can also be nominated by an EOI process.
The government says these changes will also new projects to go through rezoning and development assessment at the same time, reducing the number of large complex development applications going before councils.
