Chris Minns admits planning system is ‘too complicated’ amid western Sydney aerotropolis malaise

Premier Chris Minns has conceded he is “very frustrated” with his own state’s planning system, saying “it’s way too complicated”.

Premier Chris Minns has conceded he is “very frustrated” with his own state’s planning system, saying “it’s way too complicated” when asked of the malaise striking the western Sydney aerotropolis.

The Premier outlined on Monday a conversation he had with a builder “desperate to put capital and time and construction into NSW” who described the NSW planning system as “a bit like a large building that says ‘planning’ on the roof with no front door”.

“It’s almost impossible to do business at scale for a lot of companies in the state,” Mr Minns followed.

It came after The Daily Telegraph revealed on Monday the Premier was considering forming a new agency to co-ordinate roads, water links and sewage around the aerotropolis – the 11,200 hectare precinct surrounding the new western Sydney airport.

Mr Minns said the situation at the moment – where frustrated developers looking to build in the lauded jobs and industrial precinct are being hobbled by the lack of infrastructure – wasn’t working.

NSW Premier Chris Minns. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nikki Short

“We’ve got to make sure that we don’t swamp that community in even more bureaucracy but deliver the infrastructure that it needs. So I’m not prepared to rule that anything at the moment. What I can say is that the arrangements that we’ve got in place at the moment aren’t working,” he said.

The Premier also signalled he would be open to letting developers pay for their own infrastructure – such as roads – around the aerotropolis, in lieu of contributions paid to the government.

“Is it in the public’s interest to build a road in lieu of the allocation of infrastructure? If the answer is yes, we’re going to do it straight away, no problem,” he said.
With the government privately discussing what a new agency for the project would look like, figures including Urban Taskforce CEO Tom Forrest, The Urban Development Institute of Australia’s Gavin Melvin and Adrian Arnaudon, development director at Allams Property Group yesterday welcomed the prospective move to help steer the aerotropolis onward.

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