Development applications for the rebuilding of homes lost in the November 2019 bushfires are currently being approved by MidCoast Council with an average turnaround time of 10 days.
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Council's Director of Liveable Communities, Paul De Szell, said a bushfire taskforce established to support the rebuilding and recovery efforts of the community was working hard to deliver for those who were impacted by the fires.
The taskforce is focused on supporting all property owners who lost buildings to navigate the rebuilding process.
The team includes building, environmental health and waste specialists who are working together to assist in both the clean-up and the development application process.
To date the taskforce has also inspected 104 of the bushfire damaged premises over the last few months, the majority of which had asbestos disposal issues, which makes the clean-up process more involved.
So far council has received 15 applications to rebuild homes.
"We have approved 14 of the applications in an average of 10 days, which is a fantastic effort by staff and delivers a positive outcome for our community," Mr De Szell said.
"Of course not every application is going to be straightforward - it will depend on a range of factors - however we will continue to process applications as quickly as we can and offer advice to help navigate the system."
By directing applications for fire impacted members of the community to the taskforce, this also ensures the regular development application process is not burdened with the extra work created by the fire rebuilds.
Mr De Szell said this means any other members of the community engaged in the process can be assured their applications are not being held up as a result of the extra volume of applications generated by the bushfires, and will continue to be assessed and dealt with in the usual way.
"We are committed to supporting our community rebuild their lives after the devastation of the bushfires, and supporting them with the rebuilding process is one way we can do this."
With a large number of properties destroyed across the MidCoast, there is still clean-up work underway.
Council is also facilitating the installation of a number of Minderoo pods in the region. These self-contained units provide people with access to the basic facilities required to keep them on their land in the short-term while they rebuild homes.
A number of pods have been made available around the State as part of a partnership between the State Government and the Minderoo Foundation.
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