Full steam ahead - more major planning reforms for NSW

By Nick Thomas.

Key Points:
The reforms, if implemented, will dramatically change the structure and the pace of development assessment and approval.

The NSW Government has released a discussion paper for further reforms of the NSW planning system, signalling what many are describing as one of the most important reform packages in decades.

While the proposed reforms cover a number of areas of planning law and policy, the focus is on accelerating the pace of decision-making. The reforms are being welcomed by the property industry, and opposition is currently running at very low tide.

Some of the key reform proposals are outlined below:

Development assessment

A new framework is proposed for development decisions, which will provide different approval paths for proposals according to the size and complexity:

• the Minister for Planning will determine applications for key infrastructure projects
• a new Planning Assessment Commission will deal with all other projects of State significance (which are estimated to be about 80% of the applications which the Minister currently determines)
• Joint Regional Planning Panels , including local council representatives, will determine applications for what are considered to be regionally-significant projects;
• councils will deal with applications for what are considered to be locally-significant projects; and
• Certifiers and councils will deal with small or "minor" applications (below $1m).

Shorter time frames for determining applications will be set for each approval path. In addition, arbitration by a professional planner (without the need to go to court) will be available for applications which are not determined within the set time frames.

One of the key platforms of the reforms is increasing the proportion of development proposals which are complying development from 11 percent to 50 percent within four years. The Minister for Planning has advocated this change as being for the "mums and dads", since most applications to be affected are relatively small. However, this should free up planning experts, thereby addressing the chronic shortage of planners in NSW.

Plan-making

The Government aims, rather ambitiously, to slash processing times for changes to local environmental plans (eg. rezonings)by 50 percent. It proposes to do this by:

• making early, upfront decisions on whether the change is suitable and meets set criteria
• tailoring the plan-making process to suit the scale and complexity of each proposal
• establishing mandatory timeframes for various steps in the plan-making process
• allocating clear responsibility for key steps of the plan making process; and
• allowing the referral of stalled rezoning proposals to a Regional Panel or the new Planning Assessment Commission.

This will involve a rewrite of the plan-making regime in Part 3 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979.

Other changes

Other proposed changes include:

• broadening the eligibility criteria for accreditation of certifiers to include corporations (which could raise some difficult professional standards issues)
• expanding the auditing and enforcement roles with respect to accredited certifiers; and
• changing the governance and voting rules for strata management schemes.

Implications

The reforms, if implemented, will dramatically change the structure and the pace of development assessment and approval. This should benefit developers, financiers and other key stakeholders in the development industry.

It will be interesting to see how this progressive package is balanced with the need for transparency and public participation, which have become hallmarks of the NSW planning system.

The Government is seeking comments until 8 February 2008. The Minister has indicated that he anticipates draft legislation to be available several weeks after that, and the legislation to be passed before the end of June 2008.