In April, building designer Ben Wardle did something he’d never done before – he secured planning approval for two new townhouses from the local Merri-bek City Council in just three weeks and six days.

It was a big change for the head of Wardle Design. He has many developer clients in the inner-northern Melbourne council area, but this was the first application he’d pursued under Merri-bek’s new guaranteed six-week approval process for complying developments.