It’s time for NSW planning to catch up with economic reality.
Many of the monetary thresholds for State Significant Development were set in 2011 and haven’t been indexed to CPI or construction costs since. As a result, projects that would never have been considered “state significant” a decade ago are now routinely captured—not because of strategic importance, but because of inflation.
This undermines the purpose of the SSD system, clogs assessment pathways, and pushes local-scale development into a state process that was never designed for it.
Indexing SSD thresholds to CPI or construction cost indices is a simple fix that would keep the system relevant, efficient, and focused on genuinely significant projects.
If planning is to remain an enabler of housing, jobs, and infrastructure, it must evolve with the economy—not lag more than a decade behind.
Mason Stankovic
Patch Planning, Managing director
