The average processing time for development approvals also blew out from 83 days in 2021-22 to 105 days this financial year,Scully said. For DAs processed in March it was 116 days,with staff shortages and incomplete applications blamed for the delays.
The department has now been tasked with finding ways to speed up the system,including whether artificial intelligence could be used to assess DAs against local environment plans and development controls,instead of humans.
In his first major interview in the portfolio,Scully said the troubling figures meant the government may need to go further than planned on its election commitment to intensify housing density near transport corridors and infrastructure.
While Scully and Premier Chris Minns have previously talked about “rebalancing” Sydney’s growth by increasing housing targets in the east,under questioning Scully acknowledged that would not necessarily involve reducing housing targets in the growth engine of western Sydney.
“That’s what we’re working through …[but] I don’t think anyone thinks that it’s a substitution effect,” Scully said.
“The premier has been clear that we need to get supply moving … the numbers I’m seeing have made it even more certain that the commitments we made at the election were right.”