Hawkesbury residents will benefit from a $1 million grant from the NSW Government after Hawkesbury City Council slashed development application assessment times during the 2025/2026 Financial Year.
Approval times nearly halved from 156 days in June 2025 to just 79 days in June 2026, bringing Hawkesbury City Council well under the NSW Government's mandated target of 105 days during that period. Council's average assessment time currently sits at 80 days from August 2026.
Not only does this mean greater speed and certainty for local applicants seeking to build in the Hawkesbury, it also ensured Hawkesbury City Council qualified for $1 million in funding under the NSW Government's Faster Assessments Incentive Program.
The $1 million grant is to be used on local infrastructure projects such as roads, parks, open spaces and community facilities. Council will now work to nominate the benefiting project and will make an announcement in due course.
Hawkesbury City Mayor Mary Lyons-Buckett congratulated Council's Development Assessment Team on their achievement and thanked the NSW Government for the grant.
"These numbers speak volumes of Council's hard work in not only improving our processes but also each individual team members' efforts in vetting applications as soon as they are lodged, making decisions, working with applicants and the community and doing all of this efficiently and accurately," Mayor Lyons-Buckett said.
"This is a win-win for our community. Faster development assessment times make the Hawkesbury a more attractive place to live and do business, and this funding will go towards delivering infrastructure that also benefits the community."
