New housing push will mean death of the family car, Fairfield Mayor Frank Carbone warns
A plan to reduce car spaces at homes under a major housing change being pushed by Chris Minns will strike western Sydney worst, mayor says.
NSW
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Premier Chris Minns has been warned his major housing reforms could wipe the family car off the map – with a western Sydney mayor saying the move will force Sydneysiders out of their automobiles and onto scooters.
Fairfield Mayor Frank Carbone, a familiar sparring partner for the Premier, took aim at the Minns Government’s signature housing reforms, which means swathes of new homes would get just half a car park each.
Government planning documents shared with councils and seen by The Daily Telegraph state that manor houses and multi-dwelling terrace houses – a key plank of Minns’ push to build more than 375,000 homes in the next five years – will have a minimum of just 0.5 car parks per home.
Those housing types will both be broadly permitted within 800m of train stations and town centres under the reforms being pushed by Mr Minns.
Mr Carbone – who has previously claimed the increased density being pushed by Mr Minns would wipe out backyard cricket in Sydney – said the lack of car spots would impact most western Sydney residents with poorer public transport links who rely on multiple cars.
“Chris Minns wants us all to ditch the family car and drive a scooter,” Mr Carbone said.
“How are you expecting people in western Sydney who have large families to go to work and go out for a family day without a car?”
Mr Carbone, who earlier this month claimed the NSW Government’s overhaul of housing rules would “turn western Sydney into Kolkata” by making it “overpopulated (with) no transport links”, doubled down on the claim.
“There is no doubt without a backyard, and without a car, we’re definitely going to turn into Kolkata under Minns housing policy. We’re all going to be driving scooters,” he said.
“There’s no understanding of how families live out in the suburbs and the distance people travel which means they need a car.”
The NSW Government maintains the low-rise planning reforms are being done close to stations and towns centres where a greater reliance on public transport is warranted.
The 0.5 space rate would means some homes have a space and others wouldn’t, while planners are hopeful less spaces would mean fewer driveways and more on street parking.
Planning Minister Paul Scully fired back on the Premier’s behalf, saying that Fairfield Council in the last three years has approved just two low rise apartment blocks.
“We are introducing low to mid rise housing reforms to create more diverse housing for young people, essential workers and families. We’re talking about terraces, town houses and small apartment blocks,” he said.
“If we don’t make these changes now, it will mean another generation of young people in Fairfield, in Sydney and the rest of NSW gets locked out of the housing market.”
Under the document, a manor house is defined as small two-storey apartment blocks, which have the size and appearance of a two-storey freestanding house but contain two apartments on the ground floor and two on the floor first.
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