Huge waits on development approvals caused by council staff shortages

Director of community and places, Adan Davis said the council was faced with a skills shortage in the development assessment area, particularly with recruiting planning and engineering professionals.

"There are several factors contributing to this," he said.

"Major challenges for the council are the limited qualified talent pool within the immediate commuting area and housing availability and affordability which impacts the ability to attract key professionals.

"We have engaged consultants to assist us in the short term. We have reviewed our market offering and are commencing a recruitment drive for key professional positions."

Mr Davis said the council recognised the community's frustration around the processing times.

"The council experienced a surge in development applications last year which, combined with staff shortages, has impacted our services," he said.

"This is being addressed, and we are making ground.

"We have engaged consultants to assist in the short term and reviewed our processes to gain efficiencies.

"It will take several months to see the improvements from changes that have been put in place over the past few months.

"The next steps for us are appointing a new manager, attracting staff to key positions and implementing new procedures, which will see longer-term improvement of services."

In the past two years, the council has received more than 2,300 development applications ranging from house additions to multi-dwelling housing and large-scale commercial developments.

The surge in development applications reached a peak of 405 applications lodged over the three months between July-September 2022, above the normal 10-year average.

The current average processing time for development applications is 140 days, down from 171 days.

Mr Davis said that while the processing time has been reduced, the time for each development application varied depending on its complexity.

"Our goal is to get average processing times below 100 days by mid-2023 and to achieve 60-day average processing times by the end of the year," he said.

"We always recommend getting advice before applying, this helps to resolve issues early and make changes before lodgement, preventing potential delays for redesign during the process.

"For a house or commercial extension, new home build, secondary dwelling, shop fit-out or change of use, contact the council to arrange to speak to a duty planner.

"For more complex development such as multi-dwelling housing, new retail or industrial or mixed-use development, we recommend booking a pre-lodgement meeting where we can provide a more detailed assessment, meeting feedback and formal pre-lodgement meeting minutes detailing the advice.

"We acknowledge that delays are a major source of frustration and cost to developers. Rest assured, the council is working hard to address the delays."

To read more stories, download the Illawarra Mercury news app in the Apple Store or Google Play.