The ACT Legislative Assembly has passed changes to planning laws aimed at speeding up housing approvals and making it easier to build additional homes on existing residential blocks.

The amendments to the Planning Act support the government’s missing middle housing reforms, which came into effect on July 1 and allow more low-rise housing, including townhouses, duplexes and terraces.

Under the changes, smaller subdivisions and block consolidations will no longer be classified as significant development, reducing assessment timeframes from 60 days to 30-45 working days and removing a second round of public notification.

Single-dwelling Crown leases will also automatically allow secondary residences, such as granny flats, without requiring a lease variation.

Minor Crown lease variations, including changes to permitted dwelling numbers, will be assessed through an exempt development process, reducing approval times to 10 days.

However, development applications will still be required for the design and siting of additional homes.

Planning Minister Chris Steel says the changes will also speed up approvals for subdivisions and block consolidations on RZ1 blocks, which have been permitted under the missing middle reforms since July.

The Property Council of Australia has welcomed the changes, saying they remove unnecessary barriers to housing development.

Property Council ACT and Capital Region executive director Ashlee Berry says the reforms will help turn new planning rules into actual homes by reducing delays and improving the feasibility of smaller housing projects.

“The Government deserves credit for continuing the job of Missing Middle reform rather than stopping at the zoning changes, but the ultimate measure of success won’t be how many planning rules we change. It will be how many additional homes are approved, commenced, and completed,” Berry says.

She says further action is needed to address the financial feasibility, spending and construction challenges that can prevent approved housing projects from being completed.

The government says the amendments form part of its broader housing reforms aimed at enabling 30,000 new homes by 2030.

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