20 September 2010
The NSW Government has announced the appointment of the Land and Housing Supply Taskforce. The Taskforce was promised in June, as part of the State Budget announcements.
Members of the Taskforce are:
- Mike Collins – Chair of the Baragaroo Delivery Authority Board and the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority;
- Neil Bird – Deputy Chairman of Landcom, Board member of the Hunter Development Corporation;
- Marcus Spiller – a founding Director of economic and planning consultancy, SGS;
- Paul Tosi – General Manager, Campbelltown City Council;
- Heads of the Department of Premier and Cabinet, Treasury, Planning, Transport, Department of Environment and Climate Change and the Division of Local Government.
The secretariat of the Land and Housing Supply Taskforce is based in the Department of Premier and Cabinet, and the officer-in-charge of the secretariat is the former general manager of Liverpool City Council, Phil Tolhurst.
According to the government’s budget papers, the group was originally to “be charged with implementing a Comprehensive Housing Supply Strategy including implementing strategic planning targets through councils … and overseeing a review of development regulations”.
The group was to “identify and remove obstructions to the release of land, delivery of infrastructure and other necessary approvals”.
The government’s recent media release made no mention of either the NSW Government’s Comprehensive Housing Supply Strategy, the achievement of strategic planning targets and reviewing development regulations, although the Minister’s office advises us that the role has not changed since the Taskforce was foreshadowed in June.
The recent NSW Government statement did say that the group would be:
- looking for solutions for sustainable funding on infrastructure in the greenfield areas;
- reporting back on strategies to reduce the requirements of state government agencies for new housing developments; and
- focusing on such issues as the ongoing implementation of reforms to development contributions to bring land to market as efficiently as possible.