Minute by the Lord Mayor
To Council:
Since 2004, the City has approved over 33,750
development applications (DAs) worth over $50 Billion. These DAs have
contributed to over 66,000 new homes.
The City is a leader in new housing,
delivering the second highest number of new dwellings for any council area in
NSW over the last 20 years. Our population has grown from 180,000 in 2011 to
235,000 in 2024 and is projected to exceed 300,000 by 2046.
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. This density is matched
by diversity, reflected in a mix of traditional multi-storey terrace houses to
newly planned medium and high-density urban renewal areas like Green Square and
the Ashmore precinct. More than 97% of dwellings in our area are classed as
medium or high density, compared to just 46% across Greater Sydney.
Increased density and height can be supported
if they achieve public benefits like design excellence, high-quality public
domain, well positioned open space, affordable housing, sustainability, public
art, heritage conservation and infrastructure. By 2036 we expect 80% of the
population to be living in an apartment. To support this high-density inner
city living, we will continue to invest in high quality public domain, open
space, and community facilities that are so vital.
We help deliver affordable rental housing
alongside market housing, enabling people on low to moderate incomes to remain
in our community, using every lever available to us to maximise delivery. We
now have over 1,500 affordable and diverse rental dwellings in our local area -
double what we had in 2015 - and we’re expecting to reach more than 5,000
affordable homes by 2036.
Our existing planning controls have capacity
for over 50,000 new homes, if they were all to be taken up. However, as we have
highlighted many times, the construction industry has faced rising costs and
shortage of labour and materials, financial constraints, and higher interest
rates hampering housing delivery.
Regardless, we stand ready to enable the
delivery of more housing by reviewing our planning controls, but it must be
done with responsible planning and infrastructure delivery, in consultation
with the community, as we have always done.
Local Strategic Planning Statement and
Housing for All Strategy
In 2018, the former NSW Government introduced
changes to the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (the Act) to
embed strategic planning into the NSW planning framework, which I strongly
support in lieu of ad-hoc planning decisions to increase density.
Under the legislation, the NSW Government is
responsible for preparing region and district plans, while local councils must
develop Local Strategic Planning Statements (LSPS). The LSPS must be reviewed
at least once every 7 years – by March 2027.
Our City Plan 2036: City of Sydney Local Strategic Planning
Statement sets the City’s vision on how it will change and grow,
including 56,000 homes and 200,000 jobs by 2036. It aligns with Sustainable
Sydney 2030-2050, our Central Sydney Planning Strategy and our planning
controls.
Our Housing for All: City of Sydney Local Housing Strategy
(Housing Strategy) accompanies the LSPS. It sets out the number of homes
expected to be developed over 5, 10 and 20 years from 2016 to 2036 as well as
planning priorities and actions to guide diverse, sustainable and well-designed
housing to meet community needs at appropriate price points.
The Housing Strategy also sets a target that
7.5% of all private housing will be subsidised affordable rental housing for
very low to moderate income households – an ambitious target that requires
action from all levels of government.
Impressively, we have met 77% of our
long-term housing target within just 9 years of our 20-year goal, with almost
25,000 dwellings built and almost 18,000 in the pipeline.
We have achieved many of the actions and
projects identified in the LSPS including:
·
Oxford Street Cultural
and Creative Precinct planning controls
·
A strategy for our
Southern Employment Lands
·
New planning controls in
North Alexandria and Botany Road
·
Net Zero planning
controls
·
Pyrmont and Ultimo
planning controls, unlocking capacity for over 4,000 new homes
·
Expanding our Affordable
Housing contributions scheme across the whole City
·
Finalising and
implementing the Central Sydney Planning Strategy with nine planning proposals
already approved, for buildings up to 300 metres high.
New Region Plan for Sydney
The NSW Government recently released the following documents without any
warning just before the holiday period:
·
The draft Sydney Plan (Region Plan)
·
A New Approach to Strategic Planning: Discussion Paper
·
Statewide Policy for Industrial Lands
Instead of long-term housing targets, the
documents reiterate the 5-year short-term Housing Accord targets and repeat
threats to councils who do not meet them.
The documents are focused on delivering more
housing next to existing infrastructure in Sydney, with plans for other regions
to be developed in future. I am concerned that the capacity of existing
community infrastructure is inadequate to service the thousands of new
residents councils are expected to accommodate in the short-term.
Positively, after years of our advocacy, the
NSW Government is mandating that every council must have an affordable housing
contribution scheme in place by 2027.
Planning for the future
The NSW Government’s draft Sydney Plan sets
out a clear expectation that councils should be reviewing their planning
controls to ensure there is sufficient capacity for housing growth, and that
the NSW Government will step in where councils fail to meet expectations.
Before the NSW Government released its draft
Sydney Plan, the City has been busy proactively reviewing our LSPS to meet our
statutory obligations. 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.
The City must remain in control of this
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 continue to press the Department of
Planning, Housing and Infrastructure as the Minister for Planning and Public
Spaces said he would do in Parliament, to further strengthen the affordable
housing criteria by supporting our program, and to respect new criteria
relating to master planned precincts. Whether a proposal should be declared
State Significant Development must consider whether a recent master planning
process has already taken place.
It is critical that alongside this process,
the NSW Government looks at its own sites suitable for housing in our area,
which we estimate could accommodate up to 14,320 new homes based on existing
and new planning controls, approvals and site capacity, including on vacant
Transport for NSW land. The NSW Government must also set Sydney Metropolitan or
statewide affordable housing targets on private and public land, not just
general housing targets.
the Rt HOn
CLOVER MOORE AO
Lord Mayor of Sydney
Moved by
the Chair (the Lord Mayor), seconded by Councillor Miller –
It is resolved that:
(A)
Council
note:
(i)
the
City Plan 2036: City of Sydney Local Strategic Planning Statement (LSPS) was
made in 2020 and sets the City of Sydney’s vision on how it will change and
grow including targets for 56,000 new homes and 200,000 jobs between 2016 and
2036;
(ii)
the
Housing for All: City of Sydney Local Housing Strategy (Housing Strategy) accompanies the LSPS and sets a 20-year vision
to help guide diverse, sustainable and well-designed housing in our area, including
Affordable Housing, to meet community needs at appropriate price points;
(iii)
the
City of Sydney is a leader in housing delivery, meeting 77% of our long-term
housing target within just 9 years of our 20-year goal, with almost 25,000
dwellings built and almost 18,000 in the pipeline;
(iv)
the
City is required to update our LSPS by March 2027 and staff have already begun
preparing to review and revise the plans to meet its statutory obligations; and
(v)
the NSW
Government released a draft Sydney Plan, A New Approach to Strategic Planning:
Discussion Paper and the Statewide Policy for Industrial Lands which will be on
public exhibition over the holiday period. These plans suggest the requirements
and timeframe for councils to update their LSPS could change;
(B)
the
Chief Executive Officer be requested to:
(i)
review
the draft Sydney Plan, A New Approach to Strategic Planning: Discussion Paper
and the Statewide Policy for Industrial Lands and prepare a submission to be
circulated to Councillors for feedback before finalisation;
(ii)
prepare
a discussion paper to seek feedback on ideas and proposed changes to the LSPS
and Housing Strategy, for Council’s consideration; and
(iii)
as part
of that work, develop an engagement plan for consultation on the discussion
paper with the community, the Housing for All Advisory Panel and other relevant
stakeholders; and
(C)
the
Lord Mayor be requested to write to the NSW Premier and the Minister for
Planning and Public Spaces to:
(i)
welcome
the requirement in the draft Sydney Plan that every council must have an
affordable housing contribution scheme in place by 2027 and ask that these
schemes must deliver income-based affordable rental housing in perpetuity;
(ii)
advise
them of the City’s plans to update the LSPS and our willingness to work with
them to enable the delivery of more housing in our area through careful
planning in consultation with the community;
(iii)
ensure
that adequate new and upgraded infrastructure is delivered alongside new
residential development;
(iv)
request
that the NSW Government does not proceed with the declaration of State
Significant Development for residential development in areas the City has
already master planned or proposes to investigate for additional housing;
(v)
ask
that the NSW Government investigates their own sites in our area for the
delivery of more social, affordable and diverse housing; and
(vi)
again,
ask that the NSW Government sets Sydney Metropolitan or statewide Affordable
Housing targets including on NSW Government-owned land.
Carried
unanimously.
S051491