Planning system overhaul aimed to speed up housing development in NSW

The NSW government is set to overhaul the planning system, vowing to deliver homes statewide through a modern, quicker, and fairer system.

The Minns government has announced plans to revamp the 50-year-old planning system, which it says is "overly complex and ill-equipped to meet modern challenges".

"For too long, NSW has been hamstrung by a planning system that delays good projects and makes it harder to build the homes our communities desperately need," NSW Premier Chris Minns said this morning.

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"The current system has become a bottleneck in the state's ability to build more homes – hurting housing supply, increasing costs and reducing community confidence."

The new legislation will aim to deliver more homes through a faster and simpler approval process, resulting houses being built at a quicker rate across the state.

Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Paul Scully said housing was the main issue for NSW residents.

"We need legislative reform, and we need support from every end of the political spectrum so that the system that has guided NSW's development for the last 50 years can guide NSW's development in the future," Scully said.

Sydney is the second least affordable city in the world, with twice as many young people leaving as those arriving in NSW.

These new reforms hope to curb the trend.

"For too long, NSW has been hamstrung by a planning system that delays good projects and makes it harder to build the homes our communities desperately need," Minns said.

The proposed legislation aims to construct 30,000 new homes on surplus government land, including 8400 social housing homes, making it the largest housing investment in NSW's history.

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