HAWKESBURY Council could have much less control over development applications in the region if proposed changes to state planning law go ahead.
The state government is considering a number of changes to planning laws, in an effort to increase the supply of houses across New South Wales.
The government is proposing terraced homes and town-houses would fall under complying development, meaning Council would not have a say on such houses, and they could be approved in a relatively quickly, provided they met certain planning criteria.
It also wants standardising planning laws state wide and wants to give Councils more control over development strategies.
At the same time, there are proposed incentives for developers to engage with neighbors before the development application process begins, and loopholes, which allow developers to change the size of buildings after they have been approved.
Hawkesbury Mayor Mary Lyons-Buckett said she supported the changes in general, however, did have concerns.
She said she did have reservations about potential incentives for developers to contact neighbours before starting the DA process.
However, she said was supportive of changes to prevent developers from increasing the size of houses after they have gained approval from Council.
Liberal councillor Patrick Conolly said he welcomed the proposal, which as he saw it was simply to reduce red tape and would speed up the building process.
Local town planner Glenn Falson said he supported the removal of red tape. He said DA processing times was of concern, however, he felt the state government played just as much a part as councils in delays.
He said he was generally opposed to more complying development because it took power away from Council.
Hawkesbury City Realty principal Catherine Lincoln said theoretically more houses in the Hawkesbury should see house prices drop.
However, she said with such a high demand in the Sydney for property, house prices could actually rise.
“The selling prices in the older areas of the suburb or neighbouring suburb generally would rise because of the cost of the new housing which makes the older homes more attractive,” she said.
“The new housing will stay the same price for a period of time. Some may even go down slightly after a while, again this is dependent on the movement and demand of housing in that area.
“I say slightly because there is always such a demand in Sydney for housing.”
