MPs in Premier Chris Minns ranks raise concerns about higher density housing

Councils are ramping up their fight against the Minns government’s planning reforms, as the Premier also faces pushback from within.

Premier Chris Minns is facing pushback from within his own ranks on a plan to increase housing density across Sydney, after backbenchers spoke out about government-enforced zoning changes in a closed-door caucus meeting.

The discord comes as the Labor Mayor of Canterbury Bankstown declared “haphazard planning reforms” will turn his streets into congested “rabbit warrens” with “little or no parking”.

Canterbury Bankstown is asking for a quarter of the money the Minns government has set aside to support higher density across Sydney to be spent on delivering housing in the Bankstown City Centre.

On Tuesday, Auburn MP Lynda Voltz raised concerns about planning changes that would impose higher density dwellings on her electorate’s suburbs of Berala and Lidcombe.

She said the NSW government would need to spend more on infrastructure such as roads and water supply to support higher density housing.

Auburn MP Lynda Voltz (right) raised concerns regarding rezoning in Lidcombe and Berala during a caucus meeting, while Parramatta MP Donna Davis (left) asked about heritage protections. Picture: NCA NewsWire

In an exchange described by multiple MPs as “tense,” Ms Voltz suggested that Mr Minns last year said that development would be prioritised around the North West Metro, not in areas such as the south west.

Mr Minns rejected that in a response MPs described as “irritated”.

Parramatta MP Donna Davis also raised a question about how rezoning proposals will interact with heritage laws.

Canterbury Bankstown Mayor Bilal El-Hayek said rezoning proposals have been rushed through.

Fairfield Mayor Frank Carbone says the measures will “kill backyard cricket”. Picture: Richard Dobson

Meanwhile, councils are strengthening their opposition to Mr Minns’ planned rezoning changes to deliver 45,000 homes around eight heavy rail and metro stations.

Canterbury Bankstown Mayor Bilal El-Hayek said the changes have come with little or no community consultation.

“Duplexes will be permissible on blocks with a minimum of 12 metre frontages,” he said.

“Streets will be congested, with little or no parking and limited accessibility.”

Canterbury Bankstown council now wants $135 million of the $520 million set aside for new infrastructure across Sydney — because a stalled master plan will provide 12,500 new houses if approved.

Earlier, Fairfield Mayor Frank Carbone said the housing push would “kill off backyard cricket” and “turn Western Sydney into Kolkata”.

Mr Minns said the idea that increased density would be the death knell for backyard cricket was “clearly ridiculous”.

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Originally published as MPs in Premier Chris Minns ranks raise concerns about higher density housing