Processing times for heavy vehicles permits have improved across local government areas in three of the five surveyed states, according to data from the National Heavy Vehicle Register (NHVR).
Data from the March quarter showed an improvement in local council processing times in Queensland (an average of 10.2 days down to 8.1), South Australia (10.6 days down to 10.3) and Tasmania (6.1 days down to 5.4).
New South Wales local government processing times remained steady at 15.4 days, while Victorian local governments showed an increase from 6.6 days to 7.4 days.
NHVR’s data release has been expanded this quarter to include heat maps showing the volume of permits being processed by state and local road managers, while highlighting areas where permit turnaround is taking longer than the required 28 days.
The NHVR’s Sal Petroccitto welcomed the efforts from local councils to work with the heavy vehicle industry.
“The work of local councils, coupled with the NHVR’s expanding non-permit networks, is reducing the burden on industry and road managers.
“The NHVR recently established a national Performance Based Scheme Truck and Dog network which will further reduce the requirement for permits.
“We have also signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the Local Government Association of Queensland to support their councils to improve their service delivery standards as road managers. We are now pursuing similar agreements with other states and local governments.
“There has also been an increase in the number of pre-approvals by local councils as part of our efforts to focus on grassroots engagement, particularly in regional NSW and South Australia.”
Mr Petroccitto said there had been 5950 permits processed by state and local government in the January to March quarter – up by 50 percent on the same period in 2015.
