NSW Local Government has acknowledged the deliberations of the first meeting of the Housing Delivery Authority (HDA) and is urging the State Government to now work with councils in the next phase of assessment. Last week it was revealed that the HDA had received more than 160 expressions of interest with the panel assessing the first 28 proposals earlier this month. Of the 28, eleven have been declared state significant projects, meaning they will further bypass the need for councils to assess them, but will still be subject to further assessment from the Planning Department. Eight of the applications were rejected due to not meeting the criteria of well-located, quality, affordable housing. The other nine will require either further monitoring or more information. President of Local Government NSW (LGNSW) Mayor Phyllis Miller OAM said while councils still did not support the function of the HDA, the sector would now need to play an integral role to ensure local amenity is protected and vital infrastructure is delivered. “We now encourage the Government to work with councils and developers to ensure these applications progress through a fulsome state significant development (SSD) assessment process, with consideration of necessary infrastructure contributions, and then those proposed dwellings actually get built within the proposed timeline featured as part of the EOI process,” Mayor Miller said. “Local government always welcomes genuine and appropriate solutions to the housing crisis, but not at the expense of community amenity and much needed greenspace. "In order to make sure our communities don’t get forgotten, councils now need to be funded to undertake the important review work critical to the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process that features in the SSD assessment pathway." While remaining critical of the process, Mayor Miller did express appreciation to the Minister for Planning for honouring the local government sector’s call for transparency. “The fact that the HDA has published all the EOIs – including the unsuccessful ones – with detailed information about their final decisions is a welcome move," Mayor Miller said. "Communities have a right to know what developers are proposing, and this is exactly what I called for in my letter to the Minister in January, and we take it as a sign of goodwill from the government that they are willing to work openly and in collaboration with the local government sector."
