Planning processes are at the centre of economic activities across the state. Planning transforms towns, land usage, urban planning and so much more. The Digital Restart Fund’s support of the ePlanning Program is one way that a digital restart within infrastructure can reach every corner of the state’s economy.
The ePlanning Program has delivered online services to support planning legislation and tools that make the planning process more efficient, transparent and automated. It is a single destination for all registered users to manage their applications for all Councils.
The ePlanning Program has continuously focused on understanding evolving customer needs. The solution includes the NSW Planning Portal, which has digitally transformed the delivery of planning and development processes with each new service.
For customers this means:
- a seamless integrated digital service and customer experience across the end-to-end planning lifecycle.
- ease of submission of applications – online at any time as opposed to the previous paper-based process which took place over the counter at council only during business hours
- easy and equitable access to planning services,
- reduced assessment times, reduced touchpoints, reduced need to provide repeat information
For the NSW Government this means:
- increased transparency, trust and investment in the NSW planning system,
- a reduction in the administrative burden associated with manual tasks, a funding mechanism that will continue to support services delivered by the Program.
- Evidence-based planning decisions and oversight underpinned by a strong data-analytics capability.
- Sharing of data across whole of government
So far, the ePlanning Program has delivered benefits for customers, councils and industry. Some key benefits include:
- Savings in holding costs for Development Applications (DAs), Complying Development Certificates (CDCs) and Concurrence and Referrals
- Concurrence and referrals timeframes reduced by 20 days
- 32% of CDC’s were submitted online outside office hours
- 29% of DAs were submitted online outside office hours
The ePlanning Program is delivering meaningful outcomes to the community by reducing development assessment times, increasing transparency and confidence across the NSW planning system and driving overall productivity and investment across the state.
The ePlanning Program is delivering a common operating platform, and standard business processes for the planning industry, along with automating critical business activities. This is enabling business continuity between developers, local and State government and the community during the COVID-19 pandemic. The digital services eliminate the need for face-to-face transactions, while encouraging productivity in the construction sector, which is essential to economic growth in NSW.
“The Digital Restart Fund reminds us of the story of agile. Fail fast if you have to fail. Course correction can be quite tedious, difficult and painful and isn't good in terms of delivery confidence”
“It’s what the NSW Government needed. You are able to make sure that every penny you spend, is spent wisely” ePlanning project lead