The ongoing debate surrounding development on Sydney’s northern beaches
Is it time to pull up the drawbridges and stop new waves of development coming to the northern beaches or is it time to accept the inevitable, get a train and allow for population growth?
Manly
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Is it time to pull up the drawbridges and stop new waves of development coming to the northern beaches or is it time to accept the inevitable, get a train and allow for population growth?
The debate rages over unplanned growth, with Northern Beaches Council calling for its second moratorium on State Government planning policies since May.
This time it is on the State Environmental Planning Policy (SEPP), particularly the sections that allow aged-care or retirement villages and boarding houses to be built without the council’s blessing.
Previously, Mayor Michael Regan successfully called on Planning Minister Anthony Roberts to put a one-year freeze on the low-rise medium-density housing code. That code would have meant terraces, manor houses (a two-storey, four-dwelling building) and dual-occupancy homes could be approved without a development application.
Now he has written to Mr Roberts requesting a halt to boarding houses and seniors developments under the SEPP.
“The major issue is they become medium-density developments in low-residential areas, there is no good strategic planning and they are not renting at affordable prices,” Cr Regan said.
He does have a point, with the amount of boarding houses this financial year increasing sixfold — from two to 13 — on the previous year and showing no sign of slowing down as developers circle the waters around the new hospital.
The intensification of boarding houses led to the formation of Northern Beaches Strategic Community Group, led by Gopala Maurer. They have gone to war against the SEPP, demanding — and getting — meetings with local MPs and the Planning Minister.
Ms Maurer echoed Cr Regan’s calls for a freeze on the policy, saying developers were out to make a quick buck at the cost of local amenity. “They (developers) just have the attitude of, ‘Well, we are going to court, it will get through the court anyway’,” she said.
“There is just this loophole, they are very aware of it, they very much know what they need to be able to do to get it through.
“They know how to fight it in court and if they get rejected they just modify the design, come back and do it all again.”
Ms Maurer’s group urged Mr Roberts to amend the SEPP Act to stop boarding houses or retirement living appearing in low-rise residential areas. They also suggested an “affordable housing” zone for SEPP developments.
Frenchs Forest and surrounds — Belrose, Beacon Hill, Forestville, Allambie Heights — alone have received 10 boarding house applications this financial year.
She said the ad hoc placement of boarding houses was a major concern for residents, with a lack of infrastructure in the small, single-storey dwelling streets they often moved into.
The council successfully had the amount of parking required for boarding houses increased after meeting with Mr Roberts.
“If council have further concerns or new concerns we will consider these also,” Mr Roberts said. He acknowledged the frustration at development on the peninsula but said it had been catered for in the Greater Sydney Commission’s District Plans.
In April, the Greater Sydney Commission released its finalised 20-year North District Plan after 18 months of community consultation, estimating the northern beaches’ population will grow by 18 per cent to just under 300,000 by 2036.
“It takes into account local areas and their capacity for change,” Mr Roberts said. “These plans will guide planning decisions at the local government level and state level and ensure that any infrastructure and service issues are taken into account.”
He said the Planning Department had prepared guidance material that emphasised the preservation of local character.
“I have made the provision of opens spaces, parklands and tree canopy a priority for our state,” Mr Roberts said, pointing to a Budget announcement of $157.5 million to support more open space.
The council can apply for some of that money, which can also fund upgrades of play spaces.
The latest push against development comes as the council’s staff and some councillors championed a plan for 22-storey towers in the Frenchs Forest town centre. That plan was blocked by councillors on Tuesday night, despite the fact it would have actually created more open space.
Ms Maurer said: “If you went and added a whole lot of extra accommodation down there what does that mean is going to happen to our schools, let alone the roads and the health? We are getting a new hospital, which is fantastic, but we are going to be pulling back on our health services in other parts of the peninsula?
“There is definitely a concern around the number of dwellings to be built in Frenchs Forest because the infrastructure is not there. What they are talking about in terms of the tunnel and an east-west bus link, well, that’s catch up infrastructure.”
The Greater Sydney Commission’s plans for an extra 3400 dwellings to meet targets — most via Frenchs Forest — came despite calls from federal MPs Tony Abbott and Jason Falinski for a halt until all transport infrastructure was in place.
Mr Falinski has previously lobbied for a Beacon Hill to Chatswood metro, saying it would solve congestion woes and make the peninsula part of the 30-minute city.
Rail is a dirty word on the beaches, with a phrase along the lines of “We don’t want another Chatswood by the sea” often muttered. But if population targets keep growing for the northern beaches, eventually it might well be “Chatswood by the sea minus the rail line”.
Many models for Frenchs Forest have been proposed, including 10,000 dwellings if a rapid bus and tunnel were in place. But wouldn’t rail be a better option?
Mr Falinski said a value capture, in which developers paid to build transport infrastructure, should be considered in Frenchs Forest the best candidate.
“Ultimately, you’ve got to increase your bandwidth and can either build more roads — which the government is doing — or alternatively plan for transport,” he said. “About 35 per cent of Australia’s gross domestic product is created in an arc starting at the airport and going to Macquarie Park.
“Part of our job is to create more jobs on the northern beaches so people don’t have to travel and, secondly, make it easier to get to that arc.
“A new lane of traffic will take 5000 people per hour, a bus lane takes 7000, light rail does 10,000 and a train does 45,000.”