NSW Government moves to fast track residential approvals

The NSW Government has announced a number of changes to increase housing supply in the state, blaming the previous government for a shortfall of 100,000 Sydney homes.

In releasing reforms to the first home buyer grant system, the state government announced they will increase housing supply through fast tracking approvals for well-designed terraces, dual occupancies and town houses and a number of other measures to open up land.

According to the NSW Government, the plan will increase housing supply through:

• greater use of independent panels for some councils to ensure development applications are done e ciently and to ensure the integrity of the planning process;

• fast tracking approvals for well-designed terraces, dual occupancies and town houses through complying development;

• accelerating the development of Priority Precincts and Priority Growth Areas to deliver an additional 30,000 homes in carefully chosen areas;

• providing up to $2.5 million to individual councils to accelerate the development of new Local Environment Plans that open up new housing areas;

• ensuring housing supply is delivered through the establishment of a new ministerial taskforce on housing a ordability and a new Premier’s Priority headline goal of delivering an average of 61,000 housing completions a year over the next four years, with two supporting targets; 90 percent of approvals determined within 40 days by 2019 and state-led rezonings for 10,000 additional dwellings in appropriate areas per year on average to 2020-21.