Revealed: Six councils given a deadline to ‘swiftly improve’ DA wait times

These six councils could be stripped of planning approval powers if they do not pick up their game.

Six of NSW’s slowest councils to consider development applications have been told they have three months to “swiftly improve” housing approvals or face being stripped of their assessment powers.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal that Planning Minister Paul Scully has told the six sluggish councils that they are falling short of their performance targets, and demanded each council develop an “action plan” to pick up their game.

If the councils fail to start meeting their development application targets, Mr Scully has warned he will “compel compliance” with DA assessment targets.

The councils of which Mr Scully has demanded improvements include Georges River, Sutherland Shire, Willoughby and North Sydney.

The regional councils of Wingecarribee Shire and Queanbeyan-Palerang have also been issued with a directive to step up assessments.

Planning Minister Paul Scully wrote to mayors of six councils last week. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nikki Short

The department has told the majority of councils that they are expected to decide DAs within 115 days.

For 2024-25, Georges River is taking on average 223 days to assess DAs, while Sutherland Shire is taking 181 days. Willoughby has an average assessment time of 194 days and North Sydney has an average of 154 days.

Each has been given a five-year housing approval target it is expected to meet.

Mr Scully gave each council 28 days to reply with an endorsed “action plan,” including an “associated program to swiftly improve performance”.

“If there is no improvement the Government has a range of powers to compel compliance, including the issuing of a Performance Improvement Order,” he said.

A Performance Improvement Order is a way for the state government to step in to take over from councils which are dysfunctional, or failing to meet their obligations.

The order would start with a plan to speed up assessment processes.

If assessments do not improve, Mr Scully could install a planning administrator or put a regional planning panel in charge.

The mayors (from top left): Wingecarribbee Council’s Jesse Fitzpatrick, Sutherland Shire’s Jack Boyd, Georges River Council’s Elise Borg, Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council’s Kenrick Winchester, Willoughby City Council’s Tanya Tayler, and North Sydney’s Zoe Baker.

Premier Chris Minns first vowed to track councils’ performance in meeting housing targets and approving DAs at the Telegraph’s Bradfield Oration in 2023.

Mr Scully has long been threatening that councils who fail to meet housing approval targets could be stripped of their planning powers.

Last week’s letters mark the first time Mr Scully has taken concrete action to punish councils failing to meet their targets.

“Some councils have dramatically improved their performance since we began monitoring development assessment time frames, others have not,” Mr Scully said.

“Councils approve 85 per cent of all development applications, so of course we have high expectations of their performance in the midst of a housing crisis.”

In response to questions, Sutherland Shire council said it “remains focused on further improvements to deliver faster determination time frames” and will introduce “new technology” to speed up the process.

Wingecarribee Council said it was “commit record amounts of financial, human and technological resources to determining DAs” without stating how it would improve.

Georges River blamed “complex” DAs and staff shortages, saying it was “dedicated to continuous improvement”.

In a statement, a North Sydney Council spokesperson said the council is putting in place “improvement strategies” to determine DAs faster.