Momentum builds to overhaul major housing handbrake
A bipartisan bid to reform the state's controversial Environmental Protection and Assessment Act is gaining momentum, with NSW Premier Chris Minns hoping to push the changes through within months even as Liberals are wary of a political ambush.
The reforms, which could be introduced to parliament as early as the August sitting, would enshrine the transport-oriented development zones and the Housing Delivery Authority, help address the housing crisis, and come after the government's audacious Rosehill Racecourse proposal was shot down by Australian Turf Club members.
Planning Minister Paul Scully and Liberal counterpart Scott Farlow have been meeting since the premier signalled in January he was open to bipartisan reform of the 46-year-old, 327-page EP&A act.
The act has been criticised by developers, governments and councils for being overly complex, allowing anti-development councils to undermine housing supply while creating a field day for consultants.
Senior Liberal sources privy to discussions said changes to the Complying Development Certificates process, allowing for low-impact development and code-based assessments, were under consideration. This would involve removing councils' ability to assess on subjective merit.
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CDCs provide low-impact projects that meet a specific set of criteria to have simultaneous planning and construction approval. Under code-based assessments, proposals are assessed against a prescriptive set of rules rather than on merit.
Other proposals under consideration included legislating the Housing Delivery Authority, the three-person committee to accelerate large-scale developments by bypassing councils, along with installing pro-housing objectives in the act, a move favoured by both sides.
Urban Taskforce chief executive Tom Forrest has publicly backed the idea, and independent upper house MP Mark Latham proposed these amendments during earlier reforms of the act in March. While shot down, both Farlow and Labor indicated they would be supportive of the move later on.
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