Opposition moves to wipe out NSW government scheme to build 170,000 new homes around train stations
A bid to build thousands of new homes around 37 selected train and Metro stations could be scuppered at the last minute.
NSW
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Plans to build up to 170,000 homes around train stations could be scuppered due to an eleventh-hour bid by the NSW Opposition to have the policy speared.
Opposition planning spokesman Scott Farlow on Tuesday gave notice he would introduce a bill to abolish Transport Oriented Development (TOD) scheme locations, in a move which would wipe out a key plank of the NSW government’s housing reforms.
The government’s scheme, which came into practice on May 30, automatically rezones land within 400 metres of 37 selected Metro and heavy rail stations to allow for buildings up to six stories high.
Mr Farlow said he had taken the move due to the major changes being ushered in with “no community consultation”.
“The Minns Labor Government’s (TOD) planning laws came into force after being imposed on communities without any consultation or additional funding to address infrastructure needs and essential services,” Mr Farlow said.
Planning Minister Paul Scully fired back over the move by the Opposition, saying former Liberal Prime Minister Robert Menzies would be dismayed by the NSW Liberals’ move.
“Menzies would be rolling in his grave to see that the NSW Liberal Party is playing politics with an issue as critical as housing to the ‘forgotten people’ the Liberal Party says it represents,” he said.
“Rather than supporting a program that every serious commentator has applauded as increasing housing supply, they instead want to legislate to disallow that program to support the last council resisting increasing housing supply.”
The NSW government last week finally revealed its housing targets for individual councils, in a bid to help stimulate the building of 75,000 homes a year.
That figure must be reached if NSW is set to meet goals set by the federal government, which sets NSW’s five-year housing target at 377,000 new homes.
Last year NSW completed just 46,000.
The move is set to be debated in NSW parliament later this week.
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