Councils in our region are increasingly relying on fly-in specialist and costly consultants, as shortages of engineers, planners and other professionals slow down developments and add to budget pressures.
With specialist expertise is often unavailable in-house, councils have little choice but to bring in consultants or fly in specialists to undertake assessments and sign-offs on complex projects.
They aren’t alone, as more than 90 per cent of NSW councils have reported skills shortages…