A planetarium, aged care facilities and thousands of new homes are among $17 billion worth of development approved by independent planning panels in the last financial year that will aid NSW’s economic recovery from the pandemic.
Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Rob Stokes said streamlining independent planning panels were part of reforms to reduce assessment times that had paved the way for approximately 27,000 new homes and 52,000 jobs across the State.
“Hundreds of new projects are in the pipeline because of these vital reforms which have helped independent planning panels clear their backlogs without compromising rigorous assessment processes,” Mr Stokes said.
“Collectively, Sydney, regional, and local planning panels approved 1,497 development applications during the 2020-21 financial year – worth $17 billion to the NSW economy.
“Resolving uncertainty in the planning system has been an important focus for the Government, and over the past 12 months regional planning panels and local councils worked together to clear the decks of DAs that had been stuck in the system for too long.”
Planning Panels are made up of independent experts in fields including planning, architecture, heritage, environment, urban design, economics, traffic and transport, law and government, and public administration. Panels also include representatives from local communities to ensure issues and considerations important in those places are captured in the Panel’s deliberations.
Panels help to safeguard against corruption and provide the community with more certainty of panning decisions.
“These fantastic results are a testament to the fact we’ve kept the planning system moving to provide new homes, jobs and great public spaces, despite the challenges faced during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Mr Stokes said.
