Development Coordination Authority

The NSW Government’s new Development Coordination Authority (DCA) has been established to provide a single, coordinated source of State Government technical advice for development applications, planning proposals and major projects. Rather than councils and applicants dealing separately with multiple State agencies for a range of technical matters, the DCA now coordinates advice across areas such as transport, flooding, heritage, biodiversity, environmental protection and natural hazards. For council-assessed development applications, referrals that would previously have gone to various State agencies are now managed through the DCA via the NSW Planning Portal.

A key change for industry is the introduction of standardised referral timeframes and fees. For local development applications, the DCA has 28 calendar days to respond to referrals, with the timeframe commencing once the referral is lodged through the NSW Planning Portal and the applicable fee has been paid. The assessment clock pauses where additional information is requested and recommences when the information is provided. A fee of $1,100 applies for each DCA referral associated with a development application, while a fee of $550 applies to certain complex modification applications under section 4.55(2) of the EP&A Act. If no response is received within the 28-day period, the consent authority may proceed to determine the application. planning.nsw.gov.au

Council is currently updating its assessment and referral processes to accommodate these reforms and ensure applications continue to be processed as efficiently as possible. While Council supports the intent of streamlining State agency interactions, the implementation timeframe has been challenging, with the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure providing its first detailed webinar only two weeks ago and formal instructional material being released on 1 July, immediately prior to commencement. At the same time, councils across NSW are working through a range of other legislative and system changes, requiring significant adjustments to internal procedures, staff training and customer guidance. We appreciate the development industry’s patience as these new arrangements are embedded and processes continue to mature.