Central Coast Council has kicked off the new financial year with a median Development Application (DA) turn-around time of 38 days and a significant reduction in the number of DAs under assessment.

At the time of amalgamation, the number of DAs under assessment was 810 - it now sits at 496.

Council Group Leader of Environment and Planning, Mr Scott Cox, said with new DAs being lodged all the time, new initiatives were put in place to improve assessment times and has resulted in this significant improvement in turn-around times.

“We want to give the community and the development industry assurance that DAs will be determined as quickly and consistently as possible and we have achieved that,” Mr Cox said.

“Council have also just adopted a single housing Development Control Plan (DCP) for the entire Central Coast which will further assist to expedite processing times and simplify the DA experience for our residents.

“The Premier has set a benchmark of 40 days for determination of housing DAs and we are ahead of the game at 38 days.

“This is a credit to our staff who have used their new delegations to turn DAs around faster, significantly reducing our backlog without compromising on quality, and in consideration of appropriate community feedback.

Council Administrator, Mr Ian Reynolds, said the Central Coast was a growing region and with a predicted increase in the population of over 70,000 in the coming 20 years.

“Promoting sustainable and quality housing development is the key. That is why we are establishing an Urban Design Panel to ensure quality development is promoted on the Coast,” Mr Reynolds said.

“We also need to ensure the natural environment on the Coast is preserved for the community to enjoy.

“That is what people have been telling us at our pop up stalls across the Coast – they love living here for the natural environment and don’t want it to change too much in their local area but they want to see development progress elsewhere, particularly within Gosford.

“So our role is to ensure we promote sustainable development that will also create the jobs, housing and opportunities our growing community need.”

Since amalgamation over 3400 DAs have been determined valued at over $1.2 billion.