NSW councils were required to use the online system from July 1 this year and Murray River Council has joined others across NSW in expressing frustration with the system.
The state government said the portal would slash assessment times across NSW by 30 days, but Murray River Council’s planning and environment director Rod Croft said it had been “very disappointing”.
He said council had raised the system’s issues “far and wide”, including with the NSW Government.
“The biggest failure is it appears it has been developed for Sydney-centric councils where they don’t necessarily have building surveyors, where they actually use private certifiers at their disposal,” Mr Croft said.
“It's a change from when Murray River Council accepted multiple applications in the one form and we assessed and determined applications all in the one package - that is not able to be done under this new system.
“For something like a traditional dwelling that might have a shed attached to it, it’s now about five separate applications and each application has to be downloaded and uploaded to the system.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment said it had worked with councils for two years to “create a user-friendly system that suited the needs of all councils”.
“The NSW planning portal is saving applicants time and money, reducing assessment times and cutting administrative costs for local councils,” the spokesperson said.
“The NSW Government provided Murray River Council $50,000 to help move from a paper-based system to the digital platform and gave all regional councils, including Murray River, an additional six months to implement the program.”
Earlier this year, Murray River Council staff met with local builders to discuss the issues council was facing, leading to an average 90-day wait for development applications to be processed.
The online planning portal was one of the issues council had hoped would help ease some of the pressure and make the process more efficient.
Murray River Council mayor Chris Bilkey said its planning department and those of other councils included in the Riverina and Murray Joint Organisation (RAMJO) had expressed frustration the portal was “not designed for rural and regional councils”.
“We’re obligated by state law to implement the program, but it seems nonsensical for us to adopt something that’s way less optimal than the previous system we had,” Cr Bilkey said.
“There are a lot of functionalities missing from the portal’s capability and a lot of unnecessary doubling up so it’s a frustration both for council and for applicants.
“It’s a system that lacks flexibility, requires more than is necessary for the assessment of applications and is inconsistent in how it applies it.”
The council resolved to write to NSW Planning Minister Rob Stokes and Customer Service Minister Victor Dominello seeking an immediate, independent review of the planning portal.
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