Planning process overhaul promised by Labor if they win the election

The state’s tangled web of development and planning processes could be scrapped for good as soon as next year— there’s just one catch.

Sydney’s cumbersome and confusing planning processes would be overhauled if Labor wins the March election to streamline development applications and cut red tape.

A Minns government would put a broom through the complex web of government agencies and departments involved in the system, giving the Planning Minister more responsibility.

Labor’s Planning spokesman Paul Scully said that if the party forms government next year, the planning system would be far easier to navigate for both developers and the community.

“At the moment, we’ve got at least 13 different agencies or departments reporting to five different ministers in the planning system, so proponents and opponents are often confused about who’s responsible for making decisions,” he told The Daily Telegraph.

“if Labor’s successful in March next year, we’ll put an end to this.”

Labor planning spokesman Paul Scully.

Under Labor, the Planning Minister will be put in charge of “streamlining what has become by everyone’s recognition an unworkable, complex and confusing process”.

The bureaucracy involved in the planning system includes the department, the Independent Planning Commission, the Greater Cities Commission, the Greater Sydney Parklands Authority, the Western Parkland City Authority, and Infrastructure NSW.

The overhaul could see large projects around Sydney and NSW fast-tracked.

He criticised current the current government structure in which different agencies report to different Ministers – including Rob Stokes as Cities Minister and Anthony Roberts in the Planning portfolio.

“It’s not working at the moment,” he said.

“When there are opportunities to avoid decisions, people will.”

“I’m sure it’s contributing to the fact that average Development Application (DA) processing times were up at 98 days in October versus 83 last financial year,” he said.

Current processes see different agences report to either Cities Minister, Rob Stokes

or Planning Minister Anthony Roberts.

Mr Scully said the plan would reduce confusion and overlap among government departments but keep strong corruption mitigation measures in place.

“The checks and balances remain in place, but the process and accountabilities will be streamlined,” he said.

“It’s all about reducing red tape, complexity, and confusion.”

Reducing complexity in the planning process would be welcomed by Vera Living’s Head of Property Conor Nix.

The company builds specialist disability accommodation across Australia for people with accommodation funding through the NDIS.

The change could improve processing times, which have increased by 15 days since the last financial year. Picture: Adam Yip

Mr Nix said that compared to other states, the NSW system is “more cumbersome”.

“If we’re going to build a house in QLD it would take anywhere between 9-12 months and we won’t need a DA for it.

“In NSW, eight times out of 10 we’d need a DA which would need to go to council for approval, and that could take anywhere between 4-8 months before we can even start,” he said.