Urban Development Program

The NSW Government's Urban Development Program is an evidence-based approach to monitor and coordinate the delivery of development, land supply and infrastructure.

The program supports the delivery of the NSW Government's 5-year LGA housing completion targets that were released in May 2024 by bringing together stakeholders from industry, local and state governments, and utility providers to track and monitor the development pipeline and identify infrastructure to support planned housing growth.

Objectives of the Urban Development Program

The Urban Development Program will perform the following key functions in the planning system:

1. A strong housing pipeline – Develop a stronger pipeline of housing supply supported by a forward program of strategic planning, rezoning, infrastructure servicing, development approvals and construction.
2. Infrastructure aligned with growth – Enable more timely and efficient delivery of infrastructure supporting the development of new and growing communities, through strong governance, integrated planning, and investment prioritisation.
3. Coordinated delivery and issues resolution – Promote closer collaboration between NSW Government agencies, councils, and industry, to better coordinate delivery of development and resolve issues impacting housing supply.
4. Regular monitoring and reporting – Provide better access to up-to-date data on development and housing supply, providing a strong evidence base for monitoring and reporting of delivery and forecasting to informing infrastructure planning.

The UDP committees are as follows:

Greater Sydney UDP committees:

• Western Sydney
• Central Sydney
• Eastern Sydney

Outer Metropolitan and Regional NSW UDP committees:

• Lower Hunter and Greater Newcastle
• Illawarra Shoalhaven
• Central Coast
• Mid-Coast and Upper Hunter
• Capital region

Improving housing supply requires the coordination of multiple processes and stakeholders. Urban development programs help address housing supply and improve infrastructure delivery and coordination. They do this by bringing together stakeholders from industry, local and state governments, and utility providers.

Urban development program committees analyse evidence on housing demand, land supply and constraints to delivery. They are a forum to prioritise growth. They facilitate improved infrastructure coordination and delivery of land that is ready for development.

Housing supply will be monitored in each urban development program area through dashboards that track key housing data.

Although exact membership and size may vary from area to area, each urban development program committee will comprise representatives from:

• local government
• the Department
• the development industry
• utilities
• other relevant state agencies and infrastructure providers.

The relevant regional team from the Department will identify and appoint committee members. The Department will have discretion to determine appropriate development industry members to appoint for the regional and local context.

The program aims to ensure urban development is supported by the timely provision of infrastructure. This will mainly be achieved by improving the coordination of the service utilities, state agencies and councils who are responsible for providing infrastructure.

The NSW Government has also implemented a new approach to funding infrastructure, called the Housing and Productivity Contribution. The Housing and Productivity Contribution will help to fund:

• transport
• education
• recreation
• conservation
• health
• community
• justice related infrastructure.

The Urban Development Program will support the government’s decision-making by developing Infrastructure Opportunity Plans and prioritising infrastructure under the governance arrangements for the Housing and Productivity Contribution.

An Infrastructure Opportunities Plan will outline the growth expectations and infrastructure projects that will be eligible for funding in Greater Sydney, Illawarra-Shoalhaven, Lower Hunter and Central Coast. The plans will outline the ‘long list’ of infrastructure required to effectively support housing and productivity growth in the identified regions.

The recommendations of each of the regions will feed into an Urban Development Program Oversight Committee. They will consider and balance the competing needs of each region to review and refine the infrastructure priority list to inform government funding allocation decisions.

A probity advisor has overseen the establishment of the Urban Development Program and appropriate probity controls have been put in place, including the requirement for all Committee members to sign a conflicts of interest form.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the team directly at [email protected]