19 April 2016
Recent concerns raised by the Hills Shire Council about excessive delays in getting state government approvals for much needed new housing can be solved by introducing a One-Stop-Shop for referrals to state agencies, says the Urban Taskforce.
“The General Manager of the Hills Shire Council recently issued a media release outlining a number of examples where development applications which required referrals to state government agencies were taking 9 months or more to get an approval. The GM’s colourful language that ‘Clearly these people are asleep at the wheel’ aligns with the process many Urban Taskforce members feel about responsiveness to referrals. Often a development application will be referred to multiple state government agencies for review and approval. These state government agencies do not liaise with each other and can take a very long time to provide feedback and approval. This is an unnecessarily long and complex process. State government agencies need to get their act together and work together collaboratively to ensure additional housing supply can be delivered to the market in an efficient manner.”
“Queensland has established the State Assessment and Referral Authority (SARA) which has tight key performance indicators to reach in responding to referrals from state government departments. We understand that NSW is now considering a similar system and we encourage this to occur as soon as possible.”
“It is rare that a property industry group like the Urban Taskforce aligns with local council concerns but in this instance both local councils and the property industry have had enough with the state government dragging the chain and want change.”
