Wyong Shire Council has the quickest turnaround time for development applications (DA) when compared to similar group 7 Councils and the second quickest of all councils in the Sydney region according to a recent report.
Wyong remained in the top ten councils in the state with the highest number of DAs determined out of group 7 councils at 1,561.
Council’s average time to determine DAs under $1 million was 38 days – according to the latest Local Government Performance Monitoring Report for
2013–14.
The average of the rest of the Councils grouped with Wyong – Gosford, Hornsby, Blue Mountains, Liverpool, The Hills, Penrith and Campbelltown was
82.85 days.
Council’s Mayor, Doug Eaton, said the result was a direct result of Council’s reforms and the significant efforts of the planning team.
“In the past year we have implemented new measures to improve DA processing times and now we are one of the best in the Sydney region.
“We achieved the fastest DA determination times with the second least amount of staff.
“This is truly a great result and a credit to our staff who at the same time are handling more DAs than ever.
“We will continue to work hard in this area and just this week Council approved changes to the DA process to ensure high quality development can still be turned around quickly while ensuring our natural environment continues to be protected.”
Overall development activity increased by 12 percent and the value of locally approved developments was $24.25 billion creating around 500 local jobs.
Mayor Eaton said the year is shaping up to be even bigger than ever with a number of key developments approved by Council in recent months.
“November last year was a record for us in terms of monetary value with over $300 million of development applications received which will deliver around 80 jobs.
“This is no accident, this is a direct result of our plans and policies over the last few years to revitalise our Shire, attract investment and create jobs.”
The NSW Department of Planning and Environment produces the annual report to provide an overview of the performance of the NSW planning system.
The report includes analysis of information collected from councils including, but not limited to, DA processing times, certifications and appeals.
The average time taken by councils in NSW to determine DAs during the 2013-14 period was 70 days (two days more than in 2012–13) putting Wyong Council’s performance at almost half the state average.
