Some housing approvals are currently being determined in less than a fortnight in the Wingecarribee Shire.
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Meanwhile, the number of development applications crossing the desk of council staff has dropped since the start of COVID-19 restrictions.
A Wingecarribee Shire Council spokesman said the quick turnaround for DA assessment of as little as nine days was the result of the introduction of its Responsive Outcomes Unit.
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The spokesman said the unit was an initiative of council delivering outcomes for residential housing approvals in new urban release areas.
The quickest turnarounds were applicable to new dwellings, alterations and additions and ancillary structures in new urban release areas.
They said that as of April 2020 the average determination for all development application categories was 39 days compared to 59 days in December 2018.
The COVID-19 restrictions have delivered some challenges but the spokesman said that council had been increasing its assessment effort.
"Staff continue, via a number of delivery methods, to provide critical services to the community including both assessment and also inspections," he said.
"We've seen a marginal decrease in residential applications and commensurate decrease in large scale commercial and industrial development.
"Anecdotal evidence suggests any decrease in development activity is seemingly due to current uncertainties in the market."
The pandemic has impacted council in other ways.
The spokesman said that in March 2020, council experienced a 140 per cent increase in inspection requests associated with construction through its myinspect system.
"We believe this was as a result of uncertainties around COVID-19 lock downs and potential for the industry to be restricted in trade operations and industry seeking to reach critical construction stages," he said.
The spokesman said that in March and April council received 161 development applications for all categories.
He said this was marginally down on the same period last year being when council received 190 applications.
