Today’s announcement by Premier Minns that the NSW will reduce the number of agencies with overlapping responsibilities to enable a more streamlined process of delivering housing and infrastructure in NSW was welcomed by UDIA NSW.
Staff from the Greater Cities Commission and Western Parklands City Authority will be redeployed into the Department of Planning and Environment which will bolster planning delivery against the Government’s priorities.
At its launch of the 2022 NextGen West Manifesto in March, UDIA observed that a new governance framework was needed to get the decisions required to support the growth opportunities in Greater Western Sydney.
There has always been a high level of governance and oversight in GWS. This included up to five different Ministers covering ten government delivery and referral agencies and 22 local councils.
“With multiple regional and local plans, policies and strategies, there was a risk of increasing challenges and delays when key decisions need to be made to get development pipelines rolling. As a result, with so many players in the planning process, we were not seeing the coordinated infrastructure and development needed to be delivered,” said Steve Mann, CEO UDIA NSW.
While there is understandable great passion to deliver a world class Sydney, unfortunately, this passion has translated into a complex array of bureaucratic hurdles to delivery. When combined with the well-established problems of the NSW planning system, the result has made delivery on the ground more complicated.
Precinct planning has proven a challenge across Sydney with endless delays and planned outcomes that are simply not deliverable. We saw this is a serious threat to precincts in the Central City, such as Westmead, Rydalmere and Camellia.
“One of the remaining challenges UDIA outlined in our machinery of government recommendations for the NSW Government, is how to get integration of city planning and transport planning to ensure we deliver accessibility as the key to our global competitiveness,” said Steve Mann.
“We are pleased that today’s decision has cleared the way to get on with the job of addressing the housing crisis which must start by improving the delivery of housing and infrastructure in NSW,” Mr Mann added.
UDIA looks forward to working with DPE Secretary Kiersten Fishburn on the breadth of challenges and opportunities, including the upcoming six cities plans.
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Media Enquiries:
Deanna Lane 0416 295 898 or dlane@udiansw.com.au