NSW planning ‘flawed’ as pools, pergolas and paths trump housing

A pledge to fix the housing crisis by focusing on the poor performing councils is being railroaded by applications for renovations and swimming pools.

A plan to name and shame councils for not building enough houses is being undermined by the state government’s own measurement tool, which is incapable of splitting approval times for pergolas and garden paths with new houses and apartments.

While Planning Minister Paul Scully and Premier Chris Minns have declared they’ll hone in – and potentially overrule – councils who are dragging the chain on new homes, the public portal designed to monitor their performance has failed, according to a number of Sydney mayors.

Development application (DA) determinations, applications and wait times from each council are published monthly on the NSW Planning Portal- which has cost $146 million to roll out over the last decade.

However, the data is grossly inaccurate as it groups DA wait times for new homes with basic renovations – which are generally ticked off much faster.

Analysis of several Sydney councils reveals extraordinary variances between processing times for development applications (DAs).

Last month at Ryde Council the average wait time for a DA to be approved or rejected was roughly 130 days.

However. that included 16 days for a decision on a residential stormwater drain, 23 days for a modification to an existing DA, 105 days for a residential renovation, 114 days for a backyard swimming pool and a whopping 408 days for a new two storey house.

In Parramatta the average wait time is around 150 days.

NSW Premier Chris Minns has talked tough on poor performing councils, but the government remains hamstrung with a vague performance monitoring system. Picture: NCA NewsWire

But last month the council took 57 days to approve a new garden path, 148 days for a carport, 186 days for a two storey dwelling and 241 days for an in-ground swimming pool.

Northern Beaches Council generally processes DAs within 100 days.

However, they approved a home renovation in just 44 days and a swimming pool in 76 days, but the demolition and build of two new homes took 172 and 211 days respectively.

The NSW Government has pledged an overhauled ‘league table’ of council housing completions, but no date has been set for when it’ll be made available.

“The Department is looking at ways to create more transparency in our data to track housing completions,” a spokeswoman for the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure said.

In January Premier Chirs Minns conceded NSW would not meet goal to build 75,000 new homes this year. Picture: NCA NewsWire

“We are currently in the process of collecting data in order to publish league tables, per the Premier’s commitment in the Bradfield Oration.”

The news comes after Mr Minns conceded it will be almost impossible to build the 75,000 new homes per year required to hit federal targets.

Liverpool Council Mayor Ned Mannoun said the current monitoring system meant councils on the fringe of Sydney who were handling more complex housing DAs were being singled out.

His council currently takes the longest to make DA decisions according to the portal, with an average of 276 days taken this financial year.

Liverpool Mayor Ned Mannoun. Picture: Monique Harmer

“It’s Liverpool, Camden and Blacktown doing the complex subdivisions (and) 35-storey towers … while Hunters Hill might do a car port. Yet we get judged the same,” he said.

“We should be measuring councils based upon the type of development – there’s no point mixing in a pergola or a pool with as subdivision for 200 lots which is actually going to provide housing.

“Ultimately the numbers are flawed.”

Mr Mannoun said the current NSW planning portal – meant to be a one-stop shop for DAs – was flawed as well, with applications languishing for weeks before feedback is given.

“You basically add another three weeks on to your assessment,” he said.

Builder and engineer Ammar Mendo. Picture: Thomas Lisson

Fairfield Mayor Frank Carbone agreed the current system heaped blame on councils.

“Councils deal with many different types of DAs, it’s not just housing – it could be someone’s pool, fence, retaining wall – and yet the state government is throwing all these applications in the same mix,” he said.

“It’s clear the state government is looking for a scapegoat for the fact they haven’t built infrastructure out in the west (while) tripling the migration intake.”

Builder and engineer Ammar Mendo, whose business Hammer Homes operates mostly in the Liverpool area, said the current planning portal was constantly down, slow to react and left him at times without work while he waited for DAs to be determined.

“It stops the business, it stops everything. Without DAs going through, we’re just a sitting duck with no work,” he said.

Originally published as NSW planning ‘flawed’ as pools, pergolas and paths trump housing