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In recognition of the urgent need to reduce development application (DA) times, Council is embarking on a concerted program to address the backlog.
The DA Backlog Reduction Program is recognition by Council for the need to tackle a problem which is state-wide and has been compounded by a number of factors.
Tweed is not alone when confronted by a high number of undetermined DAs however Council has identified a number of measures which it hopes will deliver a more manageable, efficient workload over the next 6-12 months.
After consultation with the local development industry, strategies put forward to Council by Council officers were endorsed at the 2 June Planning Committee meeting.
To achieve strategy goals, a cooperative effort between Council and the development sector was developed, resulting in certain trade-offs of current Council assessment services.
These include:
- Council officers providing a greater focus on problem solving regarding any technical and infrastructure delays between its DA assessment and internal referral units
- Seeking responses for further information from applicants where required to achieve quicker determination of applications, including a new requirement of only one Request for Information (RFI) to address outstanding matters
- Limiting the amount of staff time currently applied to pre-lodgement advice and checking of new applications into the State Planning Portal
- Advising applicants to minimise contact with assessing officers throughout the DA process to allow for time to be spent on applications.
Council’s General Manager Troy Green said there had been many significant factors impacting on DA approvals across NSW.
“There has been a huge upswing in the property market and housing construction in particular due to Federal and State Government incentives and low interest rates,” Mr Green said.
“The job market is highly competitive and experienced planning and engineering staff have been drawn to the private sector. When coupled with COVID-19, flood events and capped income streams, this has caused challenges to DA processing times.
“Other challenges to our DA assessment processes have included technical input on major State infrastructure projects, new State planning policies and changes to planning legislation and the new State Planning Portal which is presenting challenges in the lodgement requirements.
“Our Council officers are aware of the issues and frustrations caused by DA delays and are committed to working on practical ways to reduce the backlog as quickly as possible.
“We continue to work with our State counterparts and continue to seek a range of alternative resourcing methods to address the issue at hand.”
For more information go to tweed.nsw.gov.au/da-backlog-reduction-program
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