Tsunami report one of the red tape setbacks for North Manly affordable housing development

Planning Minister Paul Scully has issued an ultimatum to planning panels to stop throwing up red tape and to prioritise housing.

An artist's impression of the proposed redevelopment of the former Queenscliff Community Health Centre at North Manly that was bought by Landcom to be transformed into 37 studio apartments and home units.

Frustrated Planning Minister Paul Scully has issued an ultimatum to planning panels to stop throwing up red tape and to prioritise housing, taking aim at outlandish demands by planning bosses such as requests for tsunami reports as a key issue holding up new homes being approved.

The Minister’s frustration boiled over last year over an application by NSW Government-owned developer Landcom to build new housing on the Northern Beaches being delayed due to a request for a tsunami report.

The request added months to the process, with the 37-home North Manly development, which includes affordable housing for women over the age of 55 and at risk of homelessness, finally approved in August last year.

That was almost three years after it was first lodged, with Mr Scully saying the turnaround wasn’t good enough.

“We’re working hard to turn the planning system around and we expect everyone to do their fair share,” Mr Scully told The Daily Telegraph.

The existing Queenscliff Community Health Centre which is currently disused.

“Requests like this (tsunami report) are part of the reason the planning system slowed so much under the previous government.”

The Minister wrote to planning panels late last year ordering them to prioritise housing approvals, following the three-year saga at North Manly.

“Last year I wrote to Planning panel chairs saying I want them to consider the context of the housing crisis in their deliberations and prioritise housing to make sure we keep the delivery pipeline moving across NSW,” Mr Scully said.

Landcom has purchased the disused Queenscliff Community Health Centre with plans to turn into a unit development with affordable housing.

The NSW Government doesn’t yet have conclusive data on approvals since the edict was handed down but is hopeful it is a step in the right direction as they grapple with a predicted shortfall of 134,000 homes in the state by 2029.

Amid the NSW Government’s pledge to greatly improve housing density, Mr Scully has tinkered around the edges of the planning process.

NSW Planning Minister Paul Scully. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Swift

This included adding development applications in cemeteries for works such as columbariums which hold cremated remains to the fast-track development pathway, after government analysis showed the average DA time had blown out to 90 days on average.

Under the fast-track approval process, which doesn’t require a full-blown DA, the average decision time is set to come down to 20 days.

“It seems you can be dead and still be waiting for your DA to be assessed and approved,” Mr Scully said of the move last year.

Planning panels handle large DAs worth more than $30 million, with five in Sydney and four in regional NSW dealing with applications deemed too large and complex for councils.

It comes as the first major planks of the NSW Government’s reform are set to take effect from next month.

The changes will allow buildings up to six-storeys high within 400 metres of 31 train stations and town stations around the state, with a heavy focus on the north shore.

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Originally published as Tsunami report one of the red tape setbacks for North Manly affordable housing development