MidCoast Council processed 1304 development and modification applications worth over $440 million last financial year. The combined average assessment time for these applications was 84 days.
While development and building construction activity is slowing up slightly compared to previous years, builders and developers are still showing great confidence in the MidCoast region.
The NSW Government's 'Planning Council League Table' shows that MidCoast Council processed more development applications in the 2023-24 financial year, than Maitland, Cessnock, Shoalhaven Wollongong, Port Macquarie, Coffs Harbour and Port Stephens Councils.
"The approval of such a high number of applications compares very favourably with other Councils in the region," explained Director of Liveable Communities, Paul De Szell.
"We've been streamlining our systems to process DAs more efficiently, so we are very pleased with the results.
"At the core of our process improvement work is the implementation of the 53 actions outlined in the Housing Barriers Report."
Despite the good results, MidCoast Council will look for continual improvement.
"We know DA wait times can be stressful. There are some areas such as processing complex assessments and effective triage that could be better," Mr De Szell said.
"Our aim is to achieve even greater efficiency over coming years."
