Council Press Release
Glen Innes Severn Council has endorsed a Mayoral Minute calling for simple, practical changes to the
NSW planning system to speed up housing approvals and boost supply across the state.
Council says two key bottlenecks are still holding up new homes, even after the passage of the
Planning System Reforms Bill 2025 and the introduction of the 60-Day Deemed Approval Bill.
The first is that basic, low-risk home builds still have to lodge a full Development Application (DA) and
go through the same complex steps as a major commercial project. This ties up council planners,
delays standard homes and sheds and slows approvals for more complex, higher-density housing as
well.
The second is that changes to Local Environmental Plans (LEPs) can take up to 420 days — not
including months of preparatory work — under a one-size-fits-all State process that holds back the
release of new housing land in councils right across NSW.
“You can’t solve a housing crisis with a system that treats a family home like a shopping centre and
makes every land-use change take more than a year,” Mayor Margot Davis said.
“NSW needs more homes, so we must clear the two main blockages: move simple residential projects
out of the DA system and speed up land release. Do that, and the whole planning system moves
faster.”
Council’s position also opposes weaker environmental and bushfire safeguards, new Local Planning
Panels that cut Councillors out of local development decisions, 60-day deemed approvals that ignore
critical town planner shortages and a Housing Delivery Authority model that favours the delivery of
housing in metropolitan areas over regional and rural communities.
Council is calling for two key reforms:
• A single, streamlined Building Application pathway for standard homes and routine residential
work – removing them from the full DA process and allowing qualified certifiers to approve
simple projects. This back-to-basics model is suggested to draw on the pre-1998 NSW or
current Queensland system.
• A faster, tailored, risk-based LEP amendment process – so low-risk, compliant land-use
changes don’t face lengthy State timeframes, unlocking housing land sooner.
“We want planning reform – but we want the right reform,” Cr Davis said. “Our approach would speed
up housing delivery across NSW while maintaining environmental and bushfire safeguards and
keeping local democratic voices at the table.”
Council will now prepare a detailed submission to the NSW Government. The full Mayoral Minute is
available on Council’s website:
https://gleninnessevern.infocouncil.biz/Open/2025/11/CO_27112025_AGN_1213.PDF
