New planning panels headed by district commissioners will streamline regionally significant planning across Sydney, the Greater Sydney Commission announced.
Six planning panels will be established, with one for each district, following the introduction of the independent Greater Sydney Commission in September 2015.
Each panel will be led by a district commissioner and will have four expert members with strategic and statutory planning expertise. The council and the NSW state government will each appoint two representatives.
The independent panels will start operating on 20 November this year and will replace the current Sydney East joint regional planning panel and the Sydney West joint regional planning panel.
Greater Sydney Commission CEO Sarah Hill said the district commissioners were already listening to stakeholders and residents to shape the future vision for their districts.
“District commissioners who understand the strategic vision for their respective districts will chair the new panels,” she said.
“We have been talking to stakeholders from day one and are about to launch an unprecedented level of community engagement.”
Hill said the panels aimed to improve decision-making timeframes for assessing regionally significant planning applications.
“We are also aiming to reduce pre-gateway or rezoning review timeframes to less than 90 days for 85 percent of requests,” she said.
