North Sydney Council responds after warnings it could be ‘stripped’ of planning powers over slow housing approval rates

A north shore council is fighting back after it was put on notice by the NSW Government over its sluggish rate in approving new housing developments.

A north shore council is undertaking a “development approval blitz” after the NSW Government put it on notice over its sluggish rate in determining new housing projects.

North Sydney Council has hit back at threats from the state’s planning minister who warned the council could be stripped of its planning powers unless it speeds up the amount of time it is taking to approve new residential development applications.

The council’s approval time is averaging at 154 days – 39 days slower than the NSW government’s target of 115 days.

A council report, however, has placed some of the blame back on the government’s own Planning Department which is the determining authority for many large scale development applications recently lodged in the North Sydney local government area.

NSW Planning Minister Paul Scully – in a letter to the council on March 6 – demanded the council develop an “action plan” to improve its assessment process and warned if it failed to meet the 115 day target, it would take measures to “compel” the council into compliance.

North Sydney Council was one of six NSW councils issued the warning along with Georges River, Sutherland Shire, Willoughby, Wingecarribee and Queanbeyan-Palerang councils.

The letters marked the first time Mr Scully has taken concrete action to punish councils for failing to meet their targets in a move he says was aimed at addressing the state’s housing shortage.

North Sydney Mayor Zoe Baker has defended the council’s approval processes, saying many projects in North Sydney required assessment from the Planning Department or the independent Sydney North Planning Panel which have average approval times as long as 408 days.

North Sydney Mayor Zoe Baker.

She said approval times were only one factor in addressing under-supply of new homes in Sydney, pointing to council figures which showed the bulk of development applications in the council area related to renovations for existing homes or commercial construction projects.

A spokesman for development company Holdmark, which has undertaken housing projects in North Sydney, said “overly complex planning regulations” and a “chronic under-resourcing” of approval agencies including councils had served as a handbrake on the delivery of new homes.

Mark Monk, managing director of north shore development company Helm Properties, believes the greatest challenge for North Sydney Council will be the volume of the land recently rezoned for medium density housing under new planning changes the NSW Government has enacted.

NSW Planning Minister Paul Scully.

“The historical data of approval times clearly shows that the council is struggling with their current workloads and is likely ill equipped to deal with the increased number of developments that will be lodged under the (rezoning changes),” he said.

“If developers have no confidence in councils being able to approve their applications in reasonable time frames, there will be an increase in the number of applications that will be lodged with the Land and Environment Court.

“When this occurs it will put more demand on council’s resources and add significant costs in defending these court cases which will ultimately fall to the local ratepayers to foot the bill.”

The council says it is working to speed up its approval processes.

A North Sydney Council report stated it was undertaking measures to speed-up its assessment processes, including employing a short-term contractor to determine a backlog of applications.

It has also conducted an approvals “blitz” to have older applications determined.

Ms Baker said she believed the greatest challenge in addressing housing supply was the current “fragility of the construction sector”.

“The greatest issue is how do you get a new dwellings completed when private sector construction finance is difficult and is impacted by the rising cost of materials, land values and skilled labour shortages?” she said.

Originally published as North Sydney Council responds after warnings it could be ‘stripped’ of planning powers over slow housing approval rates