Cumberland Council is experiencing an improvement in processing times for development applications.
As reported by the Sunday Telegraph, Cumberland was listed as one of NSW’s worst performers when it came to processing times for development applications during 2017/18, with an average processing time of 155 days.
However, during the 2018/19 financial year, Cumberland achieved a median processing time of 96 days, with almost half of development applications determined within 90 days.
“Since the amalgamation process began in 2016, Cumberland Council has been working hard to clear a backlog of development applications and we can see that the median processing time is starting to go down,” Mayor Steve Christou said.
“This is largely due to the fact that Council has been doing a lot of work to review its processes, systems and planning controls to minimise the time required to assess and determine development applications.
"We are very optimistic about the future in Cumberland. In just the past week, Merrylands was named as one of Sydney’s suburbs that are likely to experience a property boom due to increasing infrastructure and gentrification of the area.
“With the development of a single Local Environment Plan and Development Control Plan next year, I think we can expect to see further improvements in how long it takes for Council to assess development applications.”
