NSW communities are increasingly seeing State Significant Developments (SSD) popping up in their backyards as the NSW Government attempts to hit enormous federal housing targets. As a citizen, it takes a huge effort to read all the documentation that is submitted and respond effectively. Even reconciling one document with another (e.g. architectural plans with number of stories) takes time and often leads to significant inconsistencies being surfaced.
So, is it worth the time? Does the NSW Government actually listen to these submissions?
Decision breakdown — all years
All 1,334 determined NSW State Significant Development applications, by decision.
- Approved1,27495.5%
- Approved With Conditions302.2%
- Refused201.5%
- Not published100.7%
Decision mix by calendar year
Share of each year’s determinations. The number at the right of each bar is that year’s total.
The numbers
| Year | Approved | Approved With Conditions | Refused | Not published | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| 2007 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23 |
| 2008 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26 |
| 2009 | 40 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 41 |
| 2010 | 34 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 34 |
| 2011 | 32 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 33 |
| 2012 | 24 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 32 |
| 2013 | 12 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 25 |
| 2014 | 29 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 34 |
| 2015 | 59 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 60 |
| 2016 | 67 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 67 |
| 2017 | 68 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 71 |
| 2018 | 73 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 75 |
| 2019 | 84 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 85 |
| 2020 | 105 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 106 |
| 2021 | 90 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 94 |
| 2022 | 64 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 65 |
| 2023 | 78 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 79 |
| 2024 | 86 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 86 |
| 2025 | 129 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 131 |
| 2026 | 109 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 109 |
| All years | 1,274 | 30 | 20 | 10 | 1,334 |
Source: NSW Planning Portal major projects register, filtered to case stage “Determination” and case type “State Significant Development”. Data retrieved 2026-07-31. Modifications, State Significant Infrastructure and Part3A cases are excluded. 45 determinations publish no determination date, so they are counted in the totals but belong to no calendar year — the year rows sum to 1,289. 10 publish no decision value.
The answer is no – they get approved without consideration of community submissions.
As an example, SSD-79276958 at 59-63 Trafalgar Avenue 1A&1B Valley Road Lindfield. 225 submissions were received, of which 221 objected, 3 were comments and 1 supported. Suspiciously the 1 supporting comment was arguing that the carparking was excessive and would cost the developer too much to deliver.Largely the objections were building height and the resulting shadowing, character and privacy issues. So what did the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces decide to do?
They removed parking, suggested hiding overheight plant and equipment away from the building edges, and installing planter boxes on the balcony for improved privacy.
After 98.2% of the community objected to the development,the NSW Government not only approved, but proactively improved developer margins, for this development.
