New report reveals improved DA application times in North Sydney

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7 April 2026

North Sydney Council has reported a sharp reduction in the days it takes to assess development applications across the second quarter of the financial year. The report revealed it has sped up assessment times to an average of 80 days.

This comes after the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Paul Scully issued a Statement of Expectations Order in July 2024 requiring all NSW Councils to meet certain development assessment targets. At the time the council was averaging 130 days assessment times. 

It took Council until March 2025 to endorse an action plan to address the minister’s orders. That same month it had a 139 days average. By July 2025 this dropped to 74 days. 

There was a 105-day target set by the Minister for Planning to the end of Q2 of the 2025/26 financial year, which the council has exceeded, reducing assessment times to 80 days. This represents a 45% improvement compared with the same period last year, and modestly exceeds the target set from 1 July 2027

North Sydney was among the six metropolitan councils that received a performance improvement letter, four of which failed to meet the Minister’s requirements and are now under the management of the Department of Planning.