The Sydney suburbs excluded from ‘missing middle’ housing plan

Large parts of Sydney’s inner west earmarked for development under the government’s controversial “missing middle” housing reforms will be excluded because they fall under Sydney Airport’s flight path, casting serious doubt over the state’s ability to meet its target.

The “low-and-mid-rise” reforms announced last week aim to add 112,000 new dwellings by July 2029, but inner west town centres and stations included in the initial policy – Annandale, Leichhardt, Petersham and Stanmore – will be exempt, along with parts of Kingsford and Rockdale.

The policy was the central pillar of the Minns government’s efforts under the National Housing Accord to build 378,000 homes by July 2029. The “missing middle” reforms will increase density within 800 metres of 171 sites near train stations and town centres, allowing buildings up to six storeys within a five-minute walk of these sites.

After being belatedly rolled out, the policy has been lashed by the development lobby as being pared back from the original intent.

An explanation of excluded land on the Department of Housing’s website states “the policy does not apply” to any area contained within the Australian Noise Exposure Forecast (ANEF) contour of 20 or greater. This will also affect stage one of the policy, meaning dual occupancies will be barred.

“The 20+ contour is considered a high level of noise exposure and generally affects land under flight landing paths nearing the runways. Additional housing density is generally discouraged in these areas to ensure the effective operation of the airport and to minimise exposure to hazardous noise levels,” the explanation states.

The outer contours sweep north through Petersham and Stanmore, over Parramatta Road into Leichhardt and Lilyfield, and end over the Parramatta River.

Sydney is facing an acute housing supply shortage.Credit: Oscar Colman

It means a large swathe of Kingsford around Souths Juniors into the bottom tip of Randwick town centre won’t be included, and parts of the area surrounding Rockdale and Banksia stations. All these sites are included in the low and mid-rise housing policy indicative map released by the government.

Under existing council development policies, development is not banned under the flight path. A guideline for building site acceptability within ANEF zones states houses, units and flats are “conditionally acceptable” in areas with a 20 to 25 contour, which is almost the entirety of the zone.

A Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure spokesman confirmed the policy would not apply within the ANEF contours, but said the sites were included because changing flight paths meant the map could change over time.

“A small number of town centres and stations have a slight affectation under the current contours. Of those, given the long-term nature of the policy, it would be wrong to exclude the sites in their entirety,” he said.

Planning Minister Paul Scully said: “Lots impacted by the [ANEC] and contours were taken into account and do not impact the number of homes delivered under the policy.”

Transport-oriented development zones – an earlier planning reform of the state government – will not be excluded even if they fall within the contours of the flight path.

Analysis by Will Sullivan, chief executive of urban planning company PropCode, found 18 per cent of the properties included in the low and medium-rise zone were excluded, encapsulating “nearly all the inner west”.

NSW Premier Chris Minns with Planning Minister Paul Scully (right).Credit: Kate Geraghty

“I do find it somewhat surprising to select places that would be excluded right away,” he said.

The exclusion of the inner west comes despite a ministerial briefing note prepared in December 2023 saying “six-storey apartments will be possible across the LGA” under the reforms because the area was considered “well located”.

The story in the Herald sparked backlash from Inner West Council mayor Darcy Byrne, who labelled the proposal “absurd” and “another bureaucrat’s thought bubble”.

Scully scuttled the suggestion in his own briefing note, saying the idea of solely building mid-rise across the LGA was “fanciful and designed to scaremonger”.

Urban Development Institute of Australia NSW chief executive Stuart Ayres said the LMR policy was full of exclusions “specifically designed to constrain the supply of new homes” and questioned how the 112,000 dwellings was feasible with these reforms.

Property Council NSW executive director Katie Stevenson urged the government to release feasibility and technical studies underpinning the policy to “help the community and industry understand the analysis they’ve undertaken”.

Opposition planning spokesman Scott Farlow questioned why even duplexes had been barred given up to six-storey apartments were already in the area.

“A little over a year ago, planning advised the minister that all of the inner west was covered by this policy, now under this exclusion it appears that most of the inner west will be excluded,” he said.

“As a result of this exemption, Penrith is subject to this policy, but Petersham isn’t, it shows the hollow rhetoric of the government that they’re concentrating densities closer to the CBD.”

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