Council threatens legal action against Minns government over housing reforms

A local council is threatening to take the Minns government to court over signature transport-oriented housing reforms it claims will destroy the heritage and tree canopy of suburbs in Sydney’s north shore.

Ku-ring-gai Council will vote this week to take legal action over the Transport Oriented Development (TOD) program, a major prong in the state government’s plan to address the housing crisis and help build 377,000 homes by 2029.

Ku-ring-gai councillor Martin Smith (pictured with fellow councillor Kim Wheatley) backs legal action against the Minns government over housing reforms. Credit: Brook Mitchell

The threatened legal action is a major escalation of a months-long stoush between the council and Minns government over how to address the housing crisis.

Planning Minister Paul Scully said there was no mention of legal action last Thursday when he met Ku-ring-gai mayor Sam Ngai.

“It’s disheartening to hear that a local government area could be so unwilling doing their bit to confront the housing crisis, that they would consider legal action rather than welcome new families to their area,” he said.

Planning Minister Paul Scully said Ku-ring-gai Council’s threat of legal action is disheartening.Credit: Janie Barrett

The new planning rules allow apartment blocks of up to six storeys (or 24 metres if there are shops on the ground floor) within 400 metres of 31 stations nominated by the state government, with another six stations later added.

However, councils were given a stay of execution at some of the train stations earmarked for higher-density housing to develop their own plans.

The new planning rules apply to Roseville, Lindfield, Killara and Gordon stations in the Ku-ring-gai Council area from last month.

Ngai said in a draft of a mayoral minute seen by this masthead that he believed the changes put the area’s garden-style heritage conservation areas at risk.

“Our early legal advice indicated that this will fatally weaken local controls on heritage, setbacks and urban canopy,” he said.

Ngai said the council’s request for a 12-month deferral of the new planning rules was rejected by Scully.

Ngai said the majority of Ku-ring-gai residents did not support the Minns government’s approach to the housing crisis and had urged the council to go to court to fight the changes

“There are concerns with the one-size-fits-all approach, lack of planning, the need for infrastructure to come before housing, lack of genuine community consultation, traffic, heritage, urban canopy, wildlife and climate adaptation,” he said.

Shadow attorney-general Alister Henskens, the Liberal MP for Wahroonga, in February told Ku-ring-gai residents that the opposition would fight the changes to planning rules.

Ngai’s mayoral minute said the council supported more housing, “but denounces the lack of planning and one-size-fits-all policies of the state government”.

Ngai said the council wanted to initiate its own studies of Gordon, Killara, Lindfield and Roseville stations to “explore better resident outcomes” and create its own master plan.

It is not the first time that Ku-ring-gai Council has taken the NSW government to court – in 2017, the council successfully defeated the Berejiklian government’s attempt to forcibly merge it with Hornsby Council.

The mayor’s hardline stance is backed by Independent councillor Martin Smith who said the purpose of the legal action is to protect Ku-ring-gai’s heritage areas and tree canopy.

“If they take away our heritage and trees, we’ve lost our identity,” he said. “It would be like taking away the beach at Bondi.”