In 2018, the former NSW Government introduced changes to the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act to embed strategic planning into the work councils must do.
Done well, this work provides for additional homes and commensurate infrastructure without ad-hoc planning decisions that can have unintended negative consequences.
The City remains at the forefront of delivering Australia’s highest density residential areas, with half of the nation’s most densely populated suburbs located here, including the largest urban renewal precinct in the country. Since 2004, the City has approved over 33,750 development applications worth over $50 billion, delivering 66,000 new homes.
Our existing planning controls have capacity for over 50,000 new homes and we are readying ourselves to deliver even more by reviewing our planning controls – because legislation requires us to update our Local Strategic Planning Statement by 2027.
At our upcoming Council meeting, I will be seeking support for a discussion paper and large community consultation that will canvass ideas and propose changes to create capacity for new homes alongside responsible planning for and invest in high quality public domain, open space, and community facilities.
We are keen to work with the State Government to enable the delivery of more housing in our area through careful planning in consultation with the community.
So we will use this work to make the case the City should remain in control of our area’s planning process to ensure that additional housing is delivered in the most appropriate areas with consideration of amenity, infrastructure and local community needs, and not on a developer-led basis.
We will also ask that the NSW Government investigates their own sites in our area for the delivery of more social, affordable and diverse housing. We estimate their State land, including vacant Transport for NSW land, could accommodate up to 14,320 new homes.
If we don’t proceed with master planning for more housing in our area, we risk more ad-hoc planning decisions and approvals through alternative pathways such as the Housing Delivery Authority.
Read a Lord Mayoral Minute I will bring to the December Council meeting
