Local Shire Councils will have their performance around housing approvals laid bare in a new, publicly accessible document.

As councils assess approximately 85% of all residential development applications, a new Statement of Expectations and league “performance” tables will be critical to confronting the housing crisis, said the Minister for Local Government, Ron Hoenig.

Mr Hoenig said the NSW Government had been clear that addressing the housing crisis was a shared responsibility, and all levels of government must do their part.

“Local government has a critical role to play in approving housing across NSW,” said Mr Hoenig. “As Minister for Local Government I have the authority to issue Performance Improvements Orders to councils to rectify issues of ongoing underperformance."

The "performance league table" will hold local councils accountable for the approval of more housing as NSW works towards its commitment of 377,000 homes by mid 2029 under the National Housing Accord.

In addition to council planning data, State agencies concurrence and referral timeframes will also be published. This data will monitor the State Government’s performance so that it also is held accountable, said Mr Hoenig.

“The State Government is instituting a range of measures to support councils but where there is continuing underperformance despite that support, I will step in,” he said.

The data shows the average lodgement days, number of applications lodged and the value of these applications for every shire council in NSW.

From all data collected across NSW LGA's, it is two local councils that have tipped each end of the scale.

Varied efficiency across the region

In the past financial year Warrumbungle Shire Council had the slowest average lodgement time of 70 days for 54 lodgements.

Most efficient was Walgett Shire Council who reported an average lodgement time of two days for 24 lodgements.

Brewarrina (55) and Bogan (52) Councils also featured on the list of the slowest NSW councils by lodgement days. Across the board, the average lodgement time was 17 days.

Mayor of Walgett Shire, Jasen Ramien was proud of his council's performance. "As a Shire, we really encourage development and do our best to make it easier for people to build houses or start businesses," he said.

"That will continue as one thing that helps us prosper is having quick development turnaround. The lack of housing in NSW is on a high and to have these approvals go through in a timely manner to boost regional housing is vital."

Minister for Planning and Public Spaces, Paul Scully said performance isn't measured then is can’t monitored properly.

“Councils approve the vast majority of residential development in our State, so tracking their performance is critical if we together want to meet our housing targets.

"But we will also track the performance of the State government as well to hold ourselves to account," Mr Scully said. “The NSW Government will work collaboratively with councils and support them to meet assessment expectations."

But it isn't as simple as reading the provided data according to Local Government NSW (LGNSW) President, Darriea Turley.

Ms Turley, who welcomed the release of a planning league table for councils, cautioned that the NSW Government needs to provide more detail and an accurate evaluation of all players in the housing supply pipeline.

She said that while local government played an important role in planning for new housing supply, it did not build houses and could not control the number of dwellings actually built by private or government landowners or the time taken by the government to respond to council referrals.

“Councils are just one of several players in the housing supply pipeline and while local government continues to approve 97% of all DAs, they play a limited role in the housing construction and completion stages, which are driven by the market," Ms Turley said.

“Additionally, councils don’t control the speed of responses from NSW Government departments involved in the process.”

“Councils are doing anything and everything within their means to improve performance while ensuring they continue to look for the best planning outcomes for their current and future communities, including the provision of much needed community infrastructure.”

“Skills shortages and a council’s resourcing can also play a role, meaning the league table data does not tell the whole story."

To view the council league table, visit here.