Northern Beaches Council gets one-year freeze on new medium density planning laws
Northern Beaches Council has been granted a one-year extension to plan for laws which will fast track medium-density housing in the area.
Manly
Don't miss out on the headlines from Manly. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- Mayor calls for development freeze
- A Sydney mayor uses casting vote to give councillors pay rise
- More than 100 apply for council CEO job
NORTHERN Beaches Mayor Michael Regan has declared a one-year freeze on medium density planning laws as a victory after his and other councils lobbied Planning Minister Anthony Roberts.
It comes less than a week after Cr Regan wrote to Mr Roberts requesting a meeting to discuss the laws which would have fast tracked medium density, declaring “enough is enough”.
Mr Regan met with Mr Roberts on Thursday, after which the Planning Minister confirmed the council had been granted a deferral from the code until July, 2019
“We were really pleased with the meeting, it was exceptionally positive, he appreciated our solutions and ideas and is looking forward to working closely with us to deliver the missing middle,” Cr Regan said.
“We are grateful he is listening and more importantly we and him are acting.”
Ryde, Canterbury Bankstown and Lane Cove have also been granted a deferral of the code.
The low-rise, medium-density house code would mean terraces, manor houses and dual occupancy homes could be approved without a development application from July.
Last week the mayor slammed the proposal as “attempting to sideline councils and accelerate growth and development”.
I am affording them the opportunity to quickly amend their current planning - PLanning Minister Anthony Roberts
Mr Roberts told the Manly Daily he had approved the deferral, but warned that councils needed to get their strategic plans right as a matter of urgency.
“With respect to the Northern Beaches Council if they need time to amend their strategic plans then we are more than happy to let them have that,” he said.
“Not withstanding there has been more than two years of consultation with councils and a well publicised design competition, some councils have not fully understood the widespread permissibility of medium density uses within their own Local Environment Plans.
“I am being very clear that what I am doing for Ryde and other councils is I am affording them the opportunity to quickly amend their current planning.”
Cr Regan said the argument that councils had two years notice to amend their LEP was not fair.
“My answer to the criticisms of us having two years is that if councils were to change their LEP every time the department puts out a white paper discussion then no work would ever get done as hardly any of these white papers evolve past stage one,” he said.
Last week, following a reversal of the laws for Ryde and Canterbury-Bankstown councils who argued the one-size fits all approach did not work for them, Cr Regan said “ours is even more poorly suited”.
“Particularly when you look at road, sewerage, transport and school infrastructure” Cr Regan said. “Enough is enough in terms of uncontrolled planning.”
Cr Regan said the peninsula was already taking its share of development around Frenchs Forest, Dee Why and Ingleside and needed better infrastructure if it was to take any more.
He likened the code to the State Environmental Planning Policy on affordable housing, which allows override of council planning policies to build boarding houses.
“If the boarding houses debacle hasn’t demonstrated what a farce the planning system is becoming and the mess that it leaves in suburbs, then this is going to be significantly worse,” he said.
Instead of waiting about 70 days for a DA to be processed, developers could have it done by a private certifier in about 20 days.
Cr Regan claimed, under the code, residents would get notified just 10 days before a medium-density development started, with no room for objections.
“Such an ad hoc system makes it difficult to plan for future growth.”
IN OTHER NEWS
