Response to the Auditor General report into the Planning Portal

We’re grateful to the Audit Office of NSW for its review and recommendations to improve the Planning Portal, and we’ll implement these recommendations in full.

We welcome the Audit Office’s acknowledgement that our ePlanning program has progressively achieved its objectives, and we’ve made continued improvements that have led to a more transparent and comprehensive system which provided uninterrupted services supporting economic activity during the pandemic.

The Portal has streamlined the NSW planning system, transforming a traditionally paper-based system into a digital online experience that provides equitable, transparent, 24/7 access for the public to the planning and construction systems of all levels of state and local government.

It is the result of nearly a decade of collaborative work across government, with legislative changes, policy creation, software development and improvement, and ongoing discussions with stakeholders.

The portal has expanded enormously from what was originally envisaged. It consists of nearly 30 digital planning services, has more than 180,000 registered users and has accepted more than 170,000 development applications.

From lodging a development application to checking the planning rules around your property or helping regulators make sure buildings are built to plan, the portal is made up of a range of services.

More than 85 per cent of our users gave the service an on-the-spot thumbs up in their feedback.

It has delivered more than $485 million in benefits since the 2018/19 financial year and help cut assessment times by up to 38 per cent.

Feedback from our users shapes the portal and we will continue working with stakeholders to deliver a faster, more transparent, and integrated digital planning system.