Revealed: Which Sydney council is the slowest at approving new housing DAs
Sydney councils are taking more than four months to determine development applications. See which one tops the list of councils taking the longest to approve DAs.
NSW
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Sydney councils are taking more than four months to determine development applications, with Liverpool topping the list of councils taking the longest to approve DAs.
While average wait times for approvals reduced slightly last month — from an average of 141 to 130 days — the number of days it took to get a DA approved for a “dwelling house” ballooned by almost 167 per cent.
Department of Planning figures reveal the urgent need to speed up the DA approval process if the Minns government is to meet ambitious housing targets.
An analysis of departmental figures by The Daily Telegraph has found that approvals for new homes have tanked since September 2021.
In the year to March this year, just 31,547 approvals were granted — down 17.6 per cent on the five-year average.
The worst council for DA wait times in October was Liverpool with assessments taking, on average, 281 days.
The fastest place to get a DA assessed last month was Lane Cove, which took on average 57 days per DA.
“Councils as a whole across NSW are taking far too long,” Urban Taskforce chief executive Tom Forrest said.
However, he said that much of the fault lay with the NSW government.
“It takes a long time because we have the most complicated Act and the most onerous set of obligations in all of Australia,” he said.
“The Minns government must focus on doing the hard yards by going through and simplifying all aspects of the planning requirements.”
Woollahra Mayor Richard Shields said councils were looking to speed up the process.
“The current speed of determination of DAs is not good enough and we need to find ways of reducing processing times,” he said.
The Minns government’s first budget included $5.6m to trial AI in the planning system in a bid to cut DA wait times.
Originally published as Revealed: Which Sydney council is the slowest at approving new housing DAs
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