Georges River has joined councils across NSW in calling on the State Government to adopt proposals for infrastructure contributions reform.

"We are building communities, not simply housing," Georges River mayor Elise Borg said this week, calling for the state government to unlock restricted funding to help councils do their job.

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Councillor Borg joined with mayors across NSW who are calling on the state government to adopt proposals for infrastructure contributions reform.

"Growth in housing supply is being constrained by the timing of the delivery of enabling infrastructure - including roads, stormwater systems, water and sewer networks and public transport hubs," she said.

While existing developer contributions do provide much-needed infrastructure funding, the timing of payment means that infrastructure delivery often lags new housing, Cr Borg said.

At the same time, the NSW government's Essential Works List restricts how councils can use local contributions.

While councils can buy land for social infrastructure such as libraries, they cannot fund library construction, leaving a significant gap in the delivery of the essential infrastructure that makes communities liveable.

In a mayoral minute delivered at last night's council meeting, Cr Borg called on the state government to:

• Establish a $5 billion interest-free loan facility for councils to deliver local infrastructure ahead of receiving developer contributions, with repayment drawn from contributions as they are collected.
• Commit to forward-funding $3 billion of State and regional infrastructure in growth areas.
• Update the list of approved infrastructure that local contributions can be used for, to allow councils to build social infrastructure such as libraries that make communities liveable.

"This third proposal is the most directly relevant to the Georges River community," Cr Borg said. "It is important for our urban renewal, particularly around expanding the scope of developer contributions to support a wider range of social infrastructure, Cr Borg said.

"The message is simple, housing and infrastructure must go hand-in-hand.

"Councils across NSW are being asked to accommodate significant growth but too often the roads, drainage, transport links and community facilities that residents need lag behind.

"For Georges River one of the most important proposals is allowing developer contributions to be used to construct social infrastructure such as libraries, not just acquiring the land for them. This is about ensuring we build complete, liveable communities, not just housing," she said,

Georges River Council will write to the NSW Premier and Minister for Planning and Public Spaces, setting out the local impacts of delayed infrastructure and requesting that they support the LGNSW's policy proposal.

The council will also write to local members of the NSW Parliament asking that they support their local residents by endorsing the policy proposal.