Creating Australia's best planning system? Private sector responses to NSW planning changes

Since 2005, the NSW government has introduced a series of planning reforms designed to increase the efficiency of development assessment. The reforms have included the introduction of a standard local environment plan (LEP) template, a series of independent assessment structures under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Amendment Bill 2008 and a new Housing Code that promotes exempt and complying development. This paper explores the experiences and opinions of private sector development actors over the changes to the NSW planning framework.