Bureaucratic red tape covering planning rules, policies and guidelines have been deregulated to simplify the State’s planning system, speed up building assessments and boost productivity as part of the Government’s agenda to reform the system.
Announced by the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces, Rob Stokes, a total of 170 rules, policies and guidelines had been repealed, including 156 planning circulars, 16 referral requirements and two Ministerial Directions in a bid to make the system more efficient without impacting on standards.
“We are bonfiring a lot of our Regulations which will make the planning system easier to navigate,” Mr Stokes said.
“The removal of redundant or duplicated policies, guidelines and rules will also reduce backlogs and bottlenecks and cut costs for applications,” he said.
“Over the next three years, we aim to slash the number of cases we refer to other Government Departments by 25 per cent to reduce assessment times and simplify the planning system.”
The Minister said that among the rules and regulations removed from the system were 15 years-old planning circulars that were redundant, outdated or superseded and 16 planning referral requirements and Ministerial Directions relating to the defunct strategic plan for Greater Sydney superseded or made redundant by newer plans and policies.
“The planning system is a vital economic lever to boost productivity and help drive the nation’s economic recovery,” Mr Stokes said.
“We have $570 million allocated over the next four years to create a more timely, certain and transparent planning system as part of our sweeping reforms.”
