NSW fast-tracks 6500 homes with new authority
Almost 6500 Sydney homes across 11 developments will be fast-tracked to construction, courtesy of the first big move by a new housing authority set up by the Minns government to bypass sluggish council planning regimes.
Planning Minister Paul Scully on Tuesday declared that 11 of the 12 residential projects identified by NSW Housing Delivery Authority this month were fit for the fast-tracked approval process. Under that process, large housing proposals can be deemed “state significant” and their path to a potential development approval is expedited.
Taking a swipe at local government, Scully said that the authority’s recommendations would deliver housing faster by cutting council red tape.
“The Housing Delivery Authority not only encourages new housing proposals by asking for expressions of interest, but it also allows existing proposals to receive fast-track consideration by being assessed by the state rather than the local council,” Scully said.
“The Minns Labor Government is delivering on its commitment to streamline the planning system to create more homes. In just the first meeting, we have the potential for 6400 homes. That is thousands of families, workers and grandparents finding a home.”
The Productivity Commission this week found half as many houses were being built per hour worked in comparison to 30 years ago, blaming a sluggish rate of approvals, lack of innovation and NIMBYism.
The new housing authority – which comprises the heads of the NSW premier’s, planning and infrastructure portfolios – was created in December and given powers to bypass councils in rezoning land and in recommending large housing projects for fast-tracked development.
Some development applications have taken on average more than 190 days to process in some councils, state government data shows.
The green-lit projects
The 11 projects will deliver about 6400 dwellings, in a welcome boost for the state government’s ambition to build 377,000 homes by 2029.
The developments eligible for the authority’s consideration are those with an estimated cost of $60 million (100 or more homes on average) in Greater Sydney and a cost of $30 million (40 or more homes) in regional NSW.
Developer Billbergia is the biggest winner of the first tranche of recommendations, accounting for more than half of the homes in the approved projects. Its 2200-apartment precinct in Rhodes and 1400-dwelling apartment community in Concord West – both located in Sydney’s inner west – were among the 11 projects.
Billbergia development director Rick Graf lauded the Minns government’s planning reforms but said he would wait until receiving development approvals for his projects before celebrating.
“Premier Chris Minns has provided fantastic leadership in reshaping the planning system and the institutional friction that’s been in NSW for so long. The Housing Delivery Authority is a serious step forward, but there’s still a way to go before we get the development approval.”
The remaining recommended developments span the entirety of Greater Sydney, from Leppington in Sydney’s west through to the inner-city suburb of Waterloo.
While 11 projects have been recommended, eight others were rejected, three were deferred for consideration, and five will be monitored as they were already state significant.
The authority wants to fast-track about 100 projects in its first year and has already received over 160 expressions of interest, equating to about 100,000 dwellings since it opened applications in the second week of January.
The authority, which includes premier’s department secretary Simon Draper, planning boss Kiersten Fishburn and Infrastructure NSW chief executive Tom Gellibrand will continue to meet every fortnight to assess the remaining applications.
