NSW Councils have rejected allegations they are responsible for the withdrawal of development applications adding to the State's housing crisis and call on the State Government to look at the end-to-end performance of the planning system in NSW, including their own role, rather than continuing to target councils unfairly.
The President of Local Government NSW, Darriea Turley, said the state's housing crisis was a complex issue with a number of factors contributing.
"To play the blame game with councils in the firing line is simplistic and disingenuous," Cr Turley said.
"In fact, the NSW Government's own official housing supply report points to 'shortages of construction material and labour, rising interest rates, and falling housing prices' as the drivers of the decline in residential building approvals.
"In 2022/23, councils approved more than 85,095 dwellings in NSW, and the state targets for council-led planning proposals were met."
Cr Turley said it was extremely disappointing that councils' planning processes had been targeted by the State Government without any background or consultation with the local government sector.
"I have previously written to Minister Scully setting out a range of actions the Government can take if it is genuine about addressing the housing and homelessness crisis, including:
- Meaningfully investing in public and social housing after decade-long neglect and a state budget that did very little in this regard
- Incentivising owners to return housing stock to the long-term rental market
- Working in genuine partnership with councils and communities to do density well
- Addressing industry and market barriers to housing supply, which are beyond the control of councils.
"The Government's own figures show councils are approving 97% of all DAs and that we are very much playing our part in rezonings and housing approvals - the gap that needs to be fixed is in delivery."
In the past two financial years, a total of 146,138 development applications were received by NSW councils. In that time 9,040 withdrawals occurred, which is 6.19% of the total. According to the Government's own planning portal, in those same years, 103,460 development applications were determined, yet we're not seeing those development approvals translate into homes on the ground with only 83,419 construction certificates lodged and even fewer occupation certificates then following at 70,886.
She said there were a lot of moving parts in the approval of a development application, and delays were often the result of the time taken by applicants or government agencies to respond to requests for necessary information.
The crisis will only be solved with the cooperation of all three spheres of government rather than finger pointing and, as always, local government remains ready as a trusted partner to play its role on behalf of our current and future communities.
