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Infrastructure is a vital part of our daily lives. It is key to the liveability of new and existing communities and helps create vibrant places. Communities thrive when they are well-connected with quality local environments and infrastructure to meet demand.
There are many ways infrastructure can be funded, including through infrastructure contributions.
Infrastructure contributions are made by developers to help deliver the infrastructure needed as communities grow. They can be made in the form of money, land dedicated free of cost, as works-in-kind by agreement from both parties or as a combination of these.
Infrastructure contributions are key to helping councils and the NSW Government deliver local, regional and State infrastructure, including public and open space, footpaths, cycleways, roads, social and community infrastructure and stormwater management.
The main types of infrastructure contributions are:
To learn more about the current NSW infrastructure system, please read our Guide to NSW Infrastructure Contributions (PDF, 1.6MB).
The NSW Government has a plan to fix the uncertainty of infrastructure contributions, which will unlock new housing supply, deliver vital public infrastructure and boost investment in NSW.
After conducting a review of the infrastructure contributions system in NSW, in November 2020, the NSW Productivity Commissioner delivered his findings and recommendations in a final report. This report contains 29 recommendations which will form the foundation of reform to create more certainty about how infrastructure is funded and delivered to support new and existing communities.
In March 2021, the NSW government confirmed it had accepted all 29 recommendations.
To support the Productivity Commissioner’s review, in early 2020 we sought feedback on a package of system improvements to make the system more transparent and easier to use. Three improvements that can be implemented ahead of broader reform were released in February 2021. They respond to recent planning system and governance reviews, including the Kaldas Review, and are:
To learn more about the reforms and system improvements, please visit our Improving the infrastructure contributions system webpage.
Contributions for local infrastructure are charged by councils when new development occurs. There are two forms of local infrastructure contributions.
The department collects infrastructure contributions within designated areas to help fund the delivery of key metropolitan and regional infrastructure.
Planning agreements are a tool that allows planning authorities and developers to work together to deliver innovative infrastructure outcomes.
After considering feedback received during exhibition, the department has made improvements to the infrastructure contributions system to make it more transparent and easy to use.
