Steamroll laggard councils over housing: business lobby

Local councils that consistently fall behind on development approvals should be stripped of their powers and community consultation on new housing should be dramatically overhauled to stop “vocal minorities” blocking projects, the Business Council of Australia has argued in a campaign for a major overhaul of planning laws.

As debate rages in NSW over the role local councils have played in exacerbating Sydney’s housing crisis, the BCA has entered the fray to argue state governments need far greater sway over new approvals if Australia is to meet the ambitious dwelling targets set by the National Housing Accord.

The Business Council of Australia are launching a campaign lobbying state governments to get tougher on local councils which lag on housing approvals.Credit: Nick Moir

Ahead of the release of a report warning Australia will fall well short of those targets unless dramatic action is taken, the business lobby is calling for an overhaul of planning regulations so councils that “continually underperform” in development assessment timeframes are stripped of their approval powers.

While the BCA has welcomed some changes in NSW – including the release of league tables ranking councils by the time taken to assess development applications, which it believes should be rolled out nationally – it wants the Minns government to go further by using those standards as an impetus to take over where local authorities consistently take too long.

“Our position is we need to get to a point with respect to approval times where there is a standard,” BCA chief executive Bran Black said.

“That standard should be set differently for different councils, their needs and local challenges, but if councils are consistently failing to meet their standards then their approval powers should be withdrawn and the state should assume responsibility for that.”

The council league tables published by the government in July showed some Sydney councils including Georges River and North Sydney took on average more than 200 days to assess applications.

The government has repeatedly warned it has the power to strip councils of their approval powers, but has so far not acted on the threat.

In May, Premier Chris Minns announced a $200 million infrastructure fund to give incentives for councils to meet housing targets, while a statement of expectations order for local government issued in July set new timing standards for assessments and flagged the potential for the local government minister to issue performance orders for those which fail to meet them.

The Herald also revealed last week that the government had quietly seized control of 11 sites including the Parramatta Road corridor in the inner west using new powers to take over rezoning proposals already in the planning system if it deems them “unreasonably delayed” or of state or regional significance.

“We welcome the BCA’s endorsement of planning reforms that the Minns Labor government has already delivered or are being implemented,” Planning Minister Paul Scully said.

Among other proposals put forward by the BCA is a call for the trigger for new housing developments to be assessed as state significant to be significantly lowered, and for community consultation to be overhauled to “strike a fairer balance” between local opposition and “broader regional housing needs”.

It argues objections to projects should be based on “clear planning regulations” and be decided on concrete legal requirements, as well as arguing less consideration should be given to “the volume of submissions” on a project.

“It is critically important to have regard to local views; what we don’t want to see is small vocal minorities and their views necessarily prevailing over the balanced assessment of other priorities, the broader social interests [and] the overarching need to deliver more housing,” Black said.

Set for release on Monday, the report titled It’s time to say yes to housing is likely to place renewed pressure on the Minns government, which has made an increase in housing supply the centrepiece of its first term in office but has yet to see changes to the planning system bear fruit.

Black said while the NSW government had taken “useful steps forward”, Australian Bureau of Statistics data showing the state continues to lag Victoria on housing approvals should be seen as a “call for more action”.

Scully said planning reform remained ongoing, but also pointed to the role business had to play in meeting housing targets.

“We also need industry to put forward good proposals, supported by efficient materials supply chains and ongoing investment in training and innovation that will deliver a pipeline of housing projects that will help to deliver more well-located, well-designed and well-built homes,” he said.

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