The Peninsula Chamber of Commerce is calling on the NSW Government to overhaul the state’s planning system in the face of “systemic delays” in development approvals and housing starts.
“At a time when all levels of government are lamenting the shortage of housing and housing choice, the very system that provides planning approvals is so complex and outdated that it conspires to work against both housing availability and housing affordability,” Chamber President Matthew Wales said.
“You can’t always keep blaming Central Coast Council for the delays and shortfalls when Council planners are expected to work with an outdated system that has been around for 40 years.
“The assessment of development applications has to address multiple layers of complex statutory planning legislation, biodiversity laws, energy efficiency regulations, local planning controls and community consultation processes.
“On top of that, Council is struggling to recruit experienced professional staff to cope with the hundreds of development applications it receives every week with town planners expected to wade through 30 to 40 applications at any given time.”
Wales said on top of a difficult assessment regime, land prices and the cost of construction have gone through the roof making many projects marginal at best.
“Sadly, for the developer to deliver the simplest dual occupancy to market now takes close to two years by the time they identify and purchase the land, prepare a development application, gain approval from the Council, obtain a Construction Certificate, build the units and obtain final certificates,” he said.
“Now the industry is facing further layers of oversight with the State Government looking to introduce legislation to extend the powers of the NSW Building Commission.
“This will give the commissioner’s office the authority to enter any dwelling while it is being constructed to look for defects on top of all its other existing powers.
“All the current legislation and building oversight, whilst well intended, is actually grinding the industry to a standstill.
“Successive governments have repeatedly promised an overhaul of the NSW planning laws but never deliver.
“You can fiddle around the edges all you like, but until the NSW Government gets serious about planning reform, it will never deliver the levels of housing that we need in NSW and councils like Central Coast Council will never be able to adequately cope with the volume of applications even in these difficult times.”