Usually the council. The more contested, sensitive or large an application is, the further its decision moves from the council: to a local planning panel, a Sydney district or regional planning panel, or the NSW Government.
40,924 development applications were decided in NSW in the last twelve months: how long they took, council by council.
The council
Most development applications are decided by the council that received them.
Local planning panels
A local planning panel decides development applications on the council’s behalf where:
- there is concern that the assessment may be compromised (such projects usually have an estimated development cost of $5 million to $30 million)
- the project draws a high number of objections
- the project is sensitive, for example the demolition of a heritage building
- the project has strategic importance to the State
A panel is a chair and two independent experts appointed by the council, from a pool the Minister endorses, with a community representative. NSW publishes the list of council areas that have one.
Sydney district and regional planning panels
These decide regionally significant development:
- development with an estimated development cost over $30 million
- development over $5 million that is council-related, lodged for the State of NSW, private infrastructure or a community project, or an eco-tourism facility
- some designated development (extractive industries, waste facilities and marinas), some coastal protection works and some coastal subdivisions
- development of $10 million to $30 million that the applicant refers to the panel after 120 days
Regionally significant development does not apply in the City of Sydney. In a council area with a local planning panel, new regionally significant applications are delegated to that local panel, which decides on the regional panel’s behalf. The Sydney district or regional panel still decides where the council area has no local panel, where the application was lodged before 4 September 2024, where it is the subject of an appeal against a deemed refusal, or where the council gave the panel its assessment report before 16 January 2026.
The NSW Government
State significant development is decided by the Minister for Planning, by the Department under delegation, or by the Independent Planning Commission.
On appeal
An applicant who is refused, or whose application is not decided in time (a deemed refusal), can appeal to the Land and Environment Court, which then decides it.
From NSW’s pages on local planning panels, regionally significant development and State significant development.