MidCoast Council has had the highest number of development applications lodged in regional NSW so far this year, with a development value of over $367M.
In good news for the local economy, a total of 320 applications have been lodged since 1 July 2025.
When an applicant lodges an application in the NSW Planning Portal, Council needs to check it before it becomes official. The time Council takes to do this has reduced by four days down to 10 days.
Director of Liveable Communities, Paul De Szell, said that it's important to note that despite having the highest number of applications lodged in regional NSW, Council's lodgement times are still below the regional average of 11 days.
"More work is being done to further reduce the lodgement time to meet the State's new seven-day requirement," said Mr De Szell.
MidCoast Council also assessed the most development applications of any regional NSW Council, with 255 determinations in the first quarter of the 2025-26 financial year.
The average time Council takes to assess development applications is 80 days, which meets State Government expectations. Council's median determination time is just 39 days.
Council also has a Fast Track system, where applications that are complete and straight forward can be done faster. Council processed 58 Fast Track applications with an average determination time of just 9 days.
Mr De Szell said that significant effort had been made to reduce development assessment times and that Council will continue to seek improvement in this area and aim to provide a high quality, streamlined process for customers.
You can track and compare Council's results at https://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/policy-and-legislation/housing/faster-assessments-program/council-league-table
