Gunnedah Shire Council faces severe shortage of town planners as recruitment expands to New Zealand and United Kingdom

From the outside, things seem to be looking good for Gunnedah.

The local council received 232 development applications as well as a boom in planning certificates, state significant developments and street trading applications in the past 18 months alone.

But, at the foundations of it all, a severe lack of town planners means the tools have been put down.

Gunnedah Shire Council director of planning and environmental services Andrew Johns told the Leader the staff shortages had caused wait times for process development application to blow out.

"This is due to both staff shortages and the complex nature of the assessment process," he said.

On average, three development applications are lodged with council each week, putting pressure on the small number of staff.

The council has been operating with just one senior development officer and one town planner for some time, having only recently been successful at recruiting a second town planner.

Mr Johns said the council had been trying new strategies to recruit staff, including going global by interviewing qualified planners from New Zealand and the United Kingdom, as well as employing locums.

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Sadly he said there had been little success so far.

"We are in the process of developing a position for a cadet ... with the purpose of recruiting a candidate from the shire, or one who wants to settle here permanently," he said.

On top of the 50 applications currently sitting on Gunnedah council's desk, development assessment manager Wade Hudson said staff were receiving almost 10 requests each day to check up on applications.

Mr Hudson said this was only adding to the processing times.

"Understandably there has been frustration from some applicants because they are keen to see their project progress," he said.

"But we are hampered by staff resources and limits in complying development provisions."

Staff in the development team are also responsible for street trading approvals, preparing and issuing planning certificates and reviewing and making comments on state significant developments.

Mr Hudson said he was "hopeful" things would improve in the new year.

"With aspirations of another successful recruitment, we are hopeful that in the new year we can future-proof our planning team," he said.

"And resolve the backlog of development applications so the shire can continue to grow and flourish."

The shortages have been felt right across the region as well, with Tamworth Regional Council also trying to recruit staff to help reduce application processing times.

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