Dubbo and Orange are in the race for development this year.
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Dubbo City Council received more development applications (DAs) in the past eight months but its eastern neighbour reported approving projects with a higher combined value for the same period.
Dubbo had four months left in the financial year to close the $20 million lead Orange held by the end of February.
The results reported by the two cities for 2013-14 show similarities to those in the previous 12 months.
Orange council determined 457 DAs with a combined estimated value of $185.3 million in 2012-2013, according to data from the NSW Government Planning and Infrastructure Local Development Performance Monitoring report released recently.
Dubbo topped Orange with 477 DAs for the same period but those DAs had a lower combined total value - $158 million, more than $25 million less than its neighbour.
Bathurst Regional Council - a third local government area with a population at the 40,000 mark - determined 533 DAs, which together had a combined estimated value of $104.4 million.
The performance data for Bathurst, Dubbo and Orange was provided by Orange City Council staff to Orange civic leaders at the request of Councillor Russell Turner.
Cr Turner, a former state Member for Orange, said the figures dispelled rumours Bathurst and Dubbo were developing at a faster rate than Orange.
"But we should not be complacent," he said.
"I have been talking to a lot of architects and surveyors who see these developments 12 months before they come before council and they're telling me they've gone quiet."
Dubbo council had approved 494 DAs, including both DAs and complying development certificates, with a combined value of $89.2 million from July 1 to February 28, according to a report in this month's business papers.
Orange council had approved a total of 462 DAs and complying development certificates with a value of $109.7 million to date, Orange corporate and community relations manager Nick Redmond said.
Mr Redmond said while Orange had approved fewer DAs than Dubbo or Bathurst in 2012-2013, more were approved in the industrial and commercial sector.
"Given the challenge we have with the Electrolux announcement it is good to see development in the top end, in that commercial and industrial sector which has the potential to provide new jobs," he said.