Builder slams 700-day development approval wait as NSW councils urged to speed up planning systems

A builder has slammed an almost two-year wait for a small affordable housing development, calling the gridlock ‘madness’ as the NSW government was again urged to speed up ‘go-slow councils’.

Builder and developer Rob Hart has been waiting almost two years for a DA to be determined.

A builder has slammed an almost two-year wait for a decision on a small affordable housing development on NSW’s Central Coast, calling the gridlock “madness” as the government was urged to speed up “go-slow councils”.

Rob Hart lodged a development application for a two-storey development, hosting a 10-room boarding house and a dwelling, in Ourimbah, to the Central Coast Council in November 2021.

Almost two years later – 721 days exactly – his DA remains “under assessment”, with the council blaming a staff shortage and backlog. “If I told a client it could take two years for me to do something, I’d be sacked,” Mr Hart said,

Mr Hart said the situation “beggars' belief”. “Affordable housing should be built now so people can start living in it right away,” he said.

The most recent Planning Department figures have the average determination time in the Central Coast at 110 days; the average across Sydney-based councils is 130. Across regional and rural NSW councils, the wait is less than 70 days.

Designs for a boarding house on the NSW Central Coast remain under assessment after 721 days.

Mr Hart said the poor communication from council was “frustrating”, prompting him to reach out to Planning Minister Paul Scully for help.

“Unless I sat in the lobby (of council) with a massive sign, no one would bother (getting back),” he said. “You hear about a property crisis and the premier saying he’ll increase housing – unless they get on top of local government or take control of affordable housing (nothing will change).”

In correspondence between Mr Hart and the council’s planning director, a backlog was blamed for his 700-day wait.

“Council processes more DA’s than any other local government area in NSW,” the planning director wrote to Mr Hart.

“Due to our financial situation in 2020, we lost around 35 per cent of our planning staff, which has led to a substantial backlog of applications and delays.”

Mr Hart, however, said it had a knock-on effect on affordable housing he’d lodged, and been approved for, in other local government areas. He has similar boarding houses approved in Parkes and Glen Innes.

Developer and builder Rob Hart.

“Those were both approved in six weeks,” he said.

“But I’d thought we’d be building this one first (given it was lodged first) so it’s had flow-on effects on our other projects.”

Go-slow councils and wait times have long been an issue.

For LGAs across Sydney, September’s average determination time was a whopping 141 days, although it has reduced on average to 130 for October.

In October, ‘metro fringe councils’, including the Central Coast, took on average 100 days to make a determination.

Including all metro councils, this financial year, the average wait time is 120 days, the same as the 2022-23 financial year and about 30 days on average slower than 2021/22.

“Long DA wait times like this are a prime example of why the system needs to change,” Mr Scully said.

“We inherited a confused and confusing system from the previous government when we came into office in April this year, with average DA wait times almost doubling under the last two years of the previous government.”

Property Council NSW executive director Katie Stevenson said a fire had to be held to the councils’ feet.

“Lethargic local development assessments are holding back our ability to make a real dent in the housing affordability crisis,” she said. “The Minns government understands that reform is key to unlocking a new wave of housing supply, and we urge local governments to get on board.

“This needs to be matched by a cultural shift in local government that recognises a balance in local character and good growth can be achieved through proactive and positive engagement with industry.”

The Minns government’s first budget included $5.6m to trial AI in the planning system in a bid to cut DA wait times and followed a $1.85m program rolled out in May to train cadet planners to plug the shortage.

A Central Coast Council spokeswoman said it was “anticipated” that the DA would be determined in December, and that Mr Hart had had a larger, two-building and 19-room proposal rejected on the lot previously.