Innovation in the New South Wales planning system

This article examines innovation in the New South Wales (NSW) planning system. Sustained criticism of the system has driven an aggressive reform agenda over the last 20 years. Despite successive State government interventions to address these criticisms, it continues to be maligned by many commentators. Innovation is a powerful opportunity for improvement within the existing system as opposed to external interventions to the system, which have been characteristic of reform initiatives. This article reports on a survey of planners working in 79 NSW local governments and uses the five commitments of the Organisation of Economic Development Declaration (OECD) on Public Service Innovation to determine the capacity of the NSW planning system to support innovation. The major themes that have emerged from this research are the scarcity of novelty in policy, the impact of resourcing on local governments’ ability to innovate, local governments’ aversion to risk and experimentation and the failure of the State planning framework to support innovation. The article concludes that, despite planners’ aspirations and governments’ notional support for innovation, there are significant barriers to innovation in the NSW planning system and that systemic changes to local governments and the State department are required to support innovation. Therefore, innovation is unlikely to be a means to address the ongoing criticisms of the NSW planning system.