Acting Urban Taskforce Australia CEO, Paul Waterhouse, said that the NSW Government’s awarding of infrastructure grant funding to high performing councils is a sensible approach to delivering urgently needed new housing supply

By rewarding councils that have cut planning red tape and are assessing development applications faster, the Minns Government is actively throwing its support behind those who are supporting housing delivery.

Urban Taskforce Australia has long been calling for direct State investment in local infrastructure, and the $200 million Faster Assessments Incentive Program is an ideal way of doing so.  It subsidises local projects while incentivising councils to remove barriers to development.

It’s a simple message – if you want grant funding to help with local infrastructure, deliver faster assessments.

$54 million has been allocated to councils in matched grant funding in Round One of the Program, adding to the $40 million Better Open Spaces program announced last month.

With grants of $1 -$3 million, this will help to finance important local infrastructure initiatives, rewarding councils that have actively reduced their assessment times.  This will reinforce the importance of reducing costly development assessment delays to deliver new housing supply.

It is a win-win-win:  councils get funding for infrastructure, the NSW Government gets more approvals to help it meet its National Housing Accord targets, and developers can get the green light to building in much less time.

Urban Taskforce welcomes this initiative to fast-track community infrastructure and support housing growth.  We congratulate both the NSW Government and the successful councils for their efforts in facilitating new housing supply.

 

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