On 15 July 2020, the Premier of NSW Gladys Berejiklian announced an $83 million NSW Planning Reform Action Plan as part of a COVID-19 recovery plan.
The Premier stated, “The planning system has proved an incredibly powerful tool in our fight against the economic impacts of the pandemic.”
The NSW Planning Reform Action Plan will mean drastically reduced planning assessment times, less red tape, and user-friendly e-planning tools to help turbo-charge the economic recovery. The changes will be implemented over the next three years.
The changes will slash times as follows;
Rezoning decisions cut by 191 days (33% time savings)
Decisions on Development Applications (DAs) for larger, regionally significant projects cut by 91 days (25% time savings)
Decisions on major projects of significance to the State cut by 20 days (17% time savings).
The NSW Planning Reform Action Plan includes:
Implementing the next phase of the ePlanning Program to make it easier to interact with the planning system;
A reduction in applications requiring agency concurrences and referrals, and new benchmark time frames on key assessment and planning functions; Complying development reforms to support emerging industries and fast track government projects; and
Boost the role and resourcing of the Land and Environment Court by establishing a new class of appeals for rezonings to help unblock the planning system and appoint an additional two commissioners to enable more cases to be heard each year.
For more information on the Planning Reform Action Plan visit www.planning.nsw.gov.au/Planning-reforms