Long-awaited changes to the state's planning laws will mean councils will determine fewer development applications, but will be responsible for more regularly and clearly devising planning controls for local areas.

The changes are being presented by the state government as another means to increase the supply of housing, particularly in Sydney.

Planning Minister Rob Stokes and Greater Sydney Commission chief Lucy Turnbull at a conference on urban planning in November Credit:Brook Mitchell

Other proposals include requiring councils and state planning agencies to develop community participation plans, closing loopholes allowing developers to add size to buildings once they are already approved, and simplifying council codes determining the height and shape of local developments.

"We are not after headlong development of any kind," said the Planning Minister, Rob Stokes. "But we also need to provide more homes," Mr Stokes said, citing Treasury figures that there was under-supply of about 100,000 homes in NSW.