Planning Law Frees Projects, Say Agents

Sydney Morning Herald

Saturday June 21, 2008

Carolyn Cummins

PROPERTY agents say state planning changes will benefit the commercial property industry by eliminating costly stoppages that have held up development expenditure.

The NSW Planning Reforms legislation was passed by the upper house late last week after months of discussion and negotiation.

The managing director of Jones Lang LaSalle NSW, Bernard Poliquin said a key changes in the legislation, relating to exempt and complying development, would see common applications move through the planning system more efficiently and cut red tape.

"This is good news for development in NSW and will help free up the bottlenecks currently within the system, where projects and developments can be delayed because of inefficient planning processes," he said.

"The new exempt and complying development codes will allow smaller-scale building works to be assessed more efficiently, freeing councils up to focus on the major, more strategic and complex development projects.

"This will provide a boost to the construction and development industries and will result in greater and more effective investment in NSW."

The changes bring NSW into line with other states, which could only be of benefit to investment, Mr Poliquin said.

The passage of the changes also promises some hope to home buyers, renters and those trapped in long commutes to get to work, according to Aaron Gadiel, chief executive of the Urban Taskforce.

"Families are under pressure from high rents," Mr Gadiel said. "They're also unable to get homes within reasonable travelling distance to their workplace.

He said a gridlocked planning system had been making it harder than ever for developers to supply new housing and well-located employment.

March quarter figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed the supply of new housing in NSW had flatlined, and that the state of new housing development was far more depressed than in Victoria or Queensland.

"With population and demographic pressures, we should be seeing home construction in NSW exceeding, or at least matching Queensland and Victoria - instead, NSW has been further behind," Mr Gadiel said.

© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald

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