The NSW community has waited an extra 7 million days for local councils in NSW to process development applications, according to figures compiled by the Property Council from NSW Government data.
Taken over a six year period, the figures reveal the delays are getting worse, despite a fall in DA numbers.
Property Council of Australia NSW executive director Ken Morrison said the current system of DA assessment was in urgent need of reform to rein in outrageous costs, complexities and delays.
"Over just six years we've had a staggering 7 million days - or 19,000 years - of processing delays in NSW. That's just not acceptable," Mr Morrison said.
"DA processing by local councils in NSW is the slowest, least certain, most complex, costly and politicised in Australia. And it's getting worse, not better."
The most current data available reveals that in the period between 1999-00 and 2004-05 DA processing delays got worse, despite a fall in the total number of DAs lodged.
"In the six years since 1999, we've had an 18 per cent fall in the number of DAs lodged in NSW, but it's still taken local councils 20 per cent longer to process them," Mr Morrison said.
"That's more time to process less applications.
"It doesn't matter if you are a home renovator or a major investor, you shouldn't have to put up with this."
The Property Council said many of the slowest councils were located in Sydney metropolitan areas where substantial growth was expected in coming years.
"We need the system fixed. Councils like Strathfield in major growth areas should not be taking 100 days to process DAs - that's more than double the 40 day time limit."
Currently 99.7% of NSW DAs - some 120,000 DAs annually - are assessed at the local council level.
"New projects should be thoroughly assessed, but there is no excuse for these delays.
"Reforms to the DA system would benefit everyone," Mr Morrison said.
