Urban Taskforce CEO, Tom Forrest, today welcomed the NSW Government’s announcement of the first tranche of projects to be fast tracked through the Planning Acceleration Program (copy of projects attached below).
“The Minister for Planning along with the Department of Planning and Treasury deserve praise for developing strong criteria for assessment of projects and using those criteria to fast track projects which will create employment”, Mr Forrest said.
“All of the projects in the first tranche released today have the support of Council and were already well progressed. Many are government sponsored projects including Snowy Hydro and projects submitted by the Department of Education.
“We are particularly pleased that some of the projects that were caught up in the St Leonards stalemate have been progressed. This is a good start indeed. We hope that this can be used as a precedent to stimulate activity in other corridors which are supported by new infrastructure including Parramatta Road (supported by WestConnex); Sydenham to Bankstown (supported by the new Metro).”
Urban Taskforce supports the publication of a strong set of criteria for assessment of projects which have been submitted for consideration. These criteria will be used to consider further tranches of projects for fast-tracking in the coming weeks and months.
“We welcome the NSW Government’s recognition of the private sector property and development industry to the NSW economy. Representing 10% of the economy, the measures taken to support the industry are critical to tens of thousands of workers.
“There are a number of significant projects across greater Sydney and Newcastle that can be fast-tracked to unlock construction activity, employment and provide housing without compromising the integrity of the planning assessment process”, Mr Forrest said.
