Today the Minns Labor Government has announced the establishment of a new state-led approval pathway for major residential housing projects, as well as a process for rezonings – neither having to be approved by councils, cutting approval times and speeding up the delivery of new homes.

The ‘Housing Delivery Authority’ will be formed after following a “short and sharp consultation with stakeholders.”

“This will be available for new housing developments above an estimated development cost of $60 million (on average 100 or more homes) in Greater Sydney and a cost of approximately $30 million (on average 40 or more homes) in regional NSW.

This pathway will be overseen by the new Housing Delivery Authority (HDA) and will be established within the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure (DPHI).”

Premier of New South Wales, Chris Minns said “These are huge reforms that we are not proposing lightly, however the scale of the problem requires this significant change.

“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.”

The HDA will include the Secretary of the Premier’s Department Simon Draper, the Secretary of the Department of Planning Kiersten Fishburn and the Chief Executive Officer of Infrastructure NSW, Tom Gellibrand.

The Minister for Planning and Public Spaces remains the consent authority for projects through this pathway.

“Housing is the biggest single cost of living pressure people are dealing with right now. And while we have already pushed through the biggest housing reforms in a generation there is still a disconnect between the state’s need to support new housing, and our ability to make it happen through the current planning system.”

Proposals in this pathway will not be required to be considered by councils for development and will benefit from an approval timeline that is potentially reduced by years.

Proposals will also be selected through an expression of interest (EOI) process with established criteria. They will be assessed on merit with a flexible approach to planning controls, including any incremental zoning changes required to pursue a development application.

Local Government NSW has called this a “Christmas gift for developers.”

LGNSW said “Under the Premier’s proposal, a new three-person state-led planning authority will bypass local councils and will have the ability to approve or reject developments worth more than $60 million in Sydney and $30 million in rural and regional areas.

The announcement has been strongly condemned by Cr Darriea Turley AM, the President of Local Government NSW (LGNSW), the peak body for local government.

“Councils are in shock and are bitterly disappointed,” Cr Turley said. “We know full well there is a housing crisis, and we honestly thought we were working with the State Government in good faith to address it. We were working collaboratively to improve the planning processes and ensure the voices of our communities are heard as part of any reform.

“Instead, without any warning, the Premier has moved the goalposts and dropped this bombshell.”

Rezoning process

As part of this reform the Minns Labor Government is also introducing a new pathway that will allow selected projects which would deliver significant housing uplift, but require more significant rezonings, to go through a DPHI led fast track rezoning pathway that does not require a council process.

These projects will also be selected through an EOI process run by the HDA, where proponents will be able to submit rezoning proposals for consideration.

The proposals will be considered against a set of criteria which the HDA will now consult stakeholders on, that are consistent with the state’s housing priorities.

This approach will have the benefit of allowing new projects to go through rezoning and development assessment at the same time.

These reforms will reduce the number of large complex development applications councils are required to assess each year, freeing up resources for councils to assess less complex development applications before them.

These measures build on a series of transformative reforms to simplify the planning system and unlock housing supply after a decade of inaction by the former government, including:

• The largest ever rezoning in NSW history.
• Housing targets for councils to rebalance housing across Greater Sydney.
• $450 million to build new apartments for essential workers including nurses, paramedics, teachers, allied health care workers, police officers and fire fighters.
• A council league table to measure housing delivery.
• The largest ever investment in the state’s history with $5.1 billion dedicated to delivering social and affordable housing.
• A land audit of vacant government owned land that will unlock 30,000 homes including 8,400 public homes built by the government.

Cr Turley said “Removing councils from the spot rezoning process means removing the community’s voice. It will give developers a clear run to propose their own height limits, density and green space settings – it means developers will now run our communities, not residents.

“This is putting our communities in jeopardy – it’s not just about amenity, it’s about the liveability of our communities – not just for us, but for generations to come. This new pathway will deliver windfall gains for developers and worsen congestion, create over-crowding and remove the safeguards that protect communities from inappropriate and ad hoc development. It also completely undermines community trust in planning.

“Undermining local planning will put even more pressure on infrastructure and communities, as residential towers rise where the roads, hospitals, schools and open space cannot accommodate them.

“This government is quick to blame delays on councils. Yet it is well established that the overwhelming cause of delays stem from infrastructure delivery issues, cost of materials, labour and financing harming project viability, and other hold-ups from a multitude of government agencies.

“The housing crisis is serious and requires genuine, evidence-based solutions, not scapegoating that ignores the broader challenges in housing construction that are beyond the control of the planning system.

“LGNSW calls on the NSW Government to listen to all communities, not just developers, in addressing the housing crisis. Come back to the table and work with local government, not against us.”

Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Paul Scully said “The Minns Government is doing everything in its power to tackle the housing crisis and encourage developers to build and boost housing supply and overall affordability.

“These latest reforms mean the State is taking control of major housing projects so that they have the attention they deserve and get through the assessment process much faster.”

“The former government increased red tape so that getting approval to build homes has become incredibly hard.

“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.”