Minns Government recently announced the establishment of a new state-led approval pathway for major residential housing projects, as well as a process for rezonings – neither having to be approved by councils.

Development Applications

This reform will come into effect in early 2025 and will be available for:

• Greater Sydney – projects with a cost of $60 million (on average 100 homes or more)
• Regional NSW – projects with a cost of $30 million (on average 40 homes or more)

This pathway will be overseen by the new Housing Delivery Authority, which will sit inside the Department of Planning. The authority will include Simon Draper (Secretary of the Premier’s Department), Kiersten Fishburn (Secretary of the Planning Department) and Tom Gellibrand (Infrastructure NSW CEO).

Proposals in this pathway will not be required to be considered by councils, with the department indicating approval timelines to reduce by years.

Proposals will have to be selected through an expression of interest process with established criteria. They will be assessed on merit with a flexible approach to planning controls, including any incremental zoning changes required to pursue a DA.

Rezonings

As part of this reform, a new pathway will also allow selected projects which will deliver significant housing uplift but require more significant rezonings to go through the authority and bypass council.

These rezoning projects will also be selected through an EOI process after being considered against a set of criteria.