DAs buried deeper in council red tape THE number of NSW councils taking more than 100 days to assess development applications for new housing, renovation and commercial construction almost doubled during the past year and elected local government councillors are taking almost three times as long to approve plans as council staff, according to a new government report. Development assessment times in NSW increased to an average of 71 days in 2011-12, up from 68 days in 2010-11. Urban councils took longer to approve plans than regional councils, according to the Local Development Performance Monitoring Report for 2011-12, released today.