The New South Wales State Government has recently unveiled the Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment Bill 2025.
The purpose of the Amendment Bill is to streamline the planning process and increase housing supply, avoiding further ‘bottlenecking’ of the planning system, and remedying uncertainties caused by recent decisions of the Court of Appeal and the Land and Environment Court.
The government is transferring more planning functions from councils to state governments including local housing targets and some residential approvals. The new Housing Delivery Authority (HDA) now takes expressions of interest from residential developers to recommend that the minister “calls in” as state significant development for a more streamlined approval process over the council pathway.
Member for Sydney Alex Greenwich recently stated “Last week I worked to strengthen transparency and accountability in the government’s planning laws, which were introduced to help fast-track housing development.”
“Public exhibition periods for state significant development were cut from 28 to 14 days, leaving little time for community members and councils to assess impacts of what are large and complex projects. The government did not agree to community calls to restore the existing period to 28 days however I negotiated amendments to ensure that complex residential developments will continue to be on exhibition for 28 days. My amendments also ensure that Housing Delivery Authority meeting minutes, decisions and reasons for decisions are published, and councils are notified as soon as a project is declared state significant development.”
“Boosting housing density is an important part of improving housing affordability, but we need to ensure that new homes are liveable and financially and environmentally sustainable into the future, and that neighbourhoods are attractive and dynamic places to live. Achieving this outcome requires more than just squeezing as many homes in an area a developer thinks will deliver a project.”
Read the second debate reading to NSW Parliament on 25 March 2025 in full which includes Alex Greenwich’s speech.
