Planning Minister Paul Scully slams Woollahra Council as contender for ‘chief NIMBY’

A Sydney council considering legal action to block the state government’s housing reforms is in line to become the ‘Chief-Nimby council’, according to a senior minister.

An eastern suburbs council considering litigation to block the state government’s planning reforms over flooding risks has been slammed by a senior minister.

Planning Minister Paul Scully has warned Woollahra Council it is in line to steal the “chief-NIMBY council” crown from Ku-ring-gai if it proceeds with plans to seek legal advice regarding density reforms in Rose Bay and Double Bay.

“It appears Woollahra is looking to steal the title of chief-NIMBY council,” Mr Scully told this masthead.

“What I will say is that I only hope that Woollahra Council do not go down the same costly path as Ku-ring-gai and decide that spending ratepayer money on lawyers is a better idea than just getting on with building homes for their community.

“And I dare say, the young people, essential workers and families in that community would agree.”

Paul Scully has slammed Woollahra Council.

Mr Scully also said the low and mid rise housing policy — which would see building height limits increased to 6-7 storeys — was designed around infrastructure, which “council would know from their one-on-one consultation with the Department of Planning”.

The spray follows a motion passed by the council “condemning the implementation of new non-discretionary development standards”, citing flood risks as one of several majors concern.

Flooding event in Double Bay in December 2024.

Councillors voted that the general manager “seeks legal advice on what further steps council can take” to ensure a proper risk assessment is done regarding flooding.

In a report, the council claims the planning changes will “fundamentally undermine” its decades of “carefully crafted place-based development”, resulting in “unprecedented impacts”.

One impact highlighted is the increased risk of flooding; a consideration which council claims has been largely neglected by the Department of Planning, Infrastructure and Environment.

Last year, council informed the department of the necessary studies, including specific groundwater modelling, needed to be done prior to development.

Woollahra Mayor Sarah Swan said the NSW government was being “single minded”.

The council claim the studies are yet to be done, labelling it a “failure” which “exposes council and potential developers to liabilities”.

The council is seeking legal pathways to ensure the department does its homework, instead of “ignoring its legal responsibilities” regarding proper flood risk assessment.

Councillor Merrill Witt accused the state government of “trampling on very good controls”.

Cr Witt pointed to flooding events in December as an example of why the government “should follow direction” instead of just forging ahead.

“We’ve had no assurance they’ve looked at the flood plains, water has to figure out how to get around density. The less places it has to go the more it starts bubbling up,” he said.

Cr Witt said higher density development would increase demand for underground parking, which in turn requires “deeper excavation”.

“Every time you put a basement in you’re creating an underground dam,” Cr Witt said.

Woollahra Mayor Sarah Swan said overdevelopment was only going to exacerbate flooding events.

“Flooding is a major problem, we are a flood prone area, Double Bay was historically swampland,” she said.

“We hear from our Indigenous elders the importance of waterways in Rose Bay and Double Bay. There’s no accident we’re seeing all these recent flood events with overdevelopment.”

Ms Swan said the state government was being “single minded” by failing to think through “the day to day consequences”.

“The likely outcome will be residents and businesses won’t be insured that’s a major concern, we’ve got no idea who’s going to foot the bill,” she said.