Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Paul Scully welcomed the overwhelming response from councils for the Strong Start Cadetship Program.
"After receiving a whopping 115 applications from 74 councils, we decided to boost the program with $250,000 in additional funding and provide $25,000 to each council that applied.
"This will help more councils invest in future planners to help address a workforce shortage and tackle the housing crisis across the state."
"It was only a month ago that we put the call out to Councils seeking applications for the program, which had 64 grants available to help cover some or all of a student planner's university fees," Mr Scully said.
The Strong Start Cadetship Program was launched in response to the planning skills shortage, which is being felt particularly in regional NSW, with the grants to provide council-employed students a free or discounted degree and practical work experience, while boosting council planners.
Mr Scully said out of the 74 councils that applied, 60 were from regional areas.
"Local government has been crying out for planners, especially in some of our regional areas, where some positions have remained vacant for some time," he said.
"We're addressing the skills shortage from the ground up, by helping councils build a pipeline of young planning talent aimed at setting up the State's planning future for success.
"This funding will bring a fresh wave of new planners to councils, giving them a helping hand to clear their development application backlogs and speed up assessment times, which will drive better outcomes for our communities."
The $25,000 grant can be used to fund tuition fees for an undergraduate certificate, graduate certificate, diploma, bachelor's degree or master's degree in planning.
