Blue Mountains Council wants the state government to follow its lead and waive development application fees for people rebuilding after the bushfires.
The council has already waived its own fees for people rebuilding on their burnt blocks and has also extended that to people who want to rebuild elsewhere in the Mountains.
But there are still regulated charges which residents have to pay and which are not under council’s control.
Clrs Mick Fell and Brendan Luchetti, both from Ward Three which covers the major fire grounds, said it was important to residents to reduce their costs as much as possible.
“As a council we’ve gone a long way to assisting people financially in their recovery efforts by reducing DA fees as much as we can,” said Clr Fell. “We have either waived them or dropped them significantly. We call on the state government to subsidise all the remaining and retrospective DA costs.”
A spokeswoman for Planning and Infrastructure said the department understood it was a tough time for people rebuilding their homes after the fires.
“That’s why in December last year the agency waived the planning reform fund fee, saving around $200 or $300 per application for people rebuilding their homes and other structures like sheds.”
