Local councils that consistently fall behind on development approvals should be stripped of their powers and community consultation on new housing should be dramatically overhauled to stop “vocal minorities” blocking projects, the Business Council of Australia has argued in a campaign for a major overhaul of planning laws.
While the BCA has welcomed some changes in NSW – including the release of league tables ranking councils by the time taken to assess development applications, which it believes should be rolled out nationally – it wants the Minns government to go further by using those standards as an impetus to take over where local authorities consistently take too long.
The council league tables published by the government in July showed some Sydney councils including Georges River and North Sydney took on average more than 200 days to assess applications.The government has repeatedly warned it has the power to strip councils of their approval powers, but has so far not acted on the threat.
It argues objections to projects should be based on “clear planning regulations” and be decided on concrete legal requirements, as well as arguing less consideration should be given to “the volume of submissions” on a project.
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