Local Government’s improving permit turn around

HEAVY VEHICLE permit processing times by local councils have improved in three of the five participating States, during the March quarter.

NHVR Sal Petroccitto welcomed the efforts from local councils to work with the heavy vehicle industry, as part of the latest release of data showing permit consent requests and heat maps.

“The work of local councils, coupled with the NHVR’s expanding non-permit networks, is reducing the burden on industry and road managers,” Mr Petroccitto said.

“The NHVR recently established a national Performance Based Scheme Truck and Dog network which will further reduce the requirement for permits.

“We have also signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the Local Government Association of Queensland to support their councils to improve their service delivery standards as road managers. We are now pursuing similar agreements with other states and local governments.

“There has also been an increase in the number of pre-approvals by local councils as part of our efforts to focus on grassroots engagement, particularly in regional NSW and South Australia.”

Mr Petroccitto said the data showed an improvement in local council processing times in Queensland (an average of 10.2 days down to 8.1), South Australia (10.6 days down to 10.3) and Tasmania (6.1 days down to 5.4). NSW local governments remained steady 15.4 days while Victorian local governments have had an increase from 6.6 days to 7.4 days.

“There were 5950 permits processed by state and local government in the January to March quarter, up by 50 per cent on the same period in 2015,” he said.

“These maps are just one tool to assist industry and road managers improve efficiency and productivity. We will continue to work with state governments to identify opportunities to further reduce the number of permits and improve processing turn-around times.”

NHVR’s data release for Quarter 3 of this financial year has been expanded to include heat maps showing the volume of permits being processed by state and local road managers, while highlighting areas where permit turn around is taking longer than the required 28 days.

The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator is Australia’s independent regulator for all vehicles over 4.5t gross vehicle mass. We administer one set of laws for heavy vehicles to deliver a comprehensive range of services under one regulator, one rulebook. For more information, please visit: www.nhvr.gov.au.

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