Minister reveals why Sydney’s eastern suburbs were spared housing density push

Sydney’s eastern suburbs and parts of the north shore were spared in the Minns government’s push for greater housing density because of strained water and sewage infrastructure and transport links that are already at “high capacity”, the NSW planning minister has revealed.

Peak developer groups were left bemused last week after some key transport hubs on the north shore and eastern suburbs were left off a list of 31 suburbs across greater Sydney, the Illawarra, Central Coast and Newcastle which will be subject to snap rezonings to increase density.

NSW Planning Minister Paul Scully says infrastructure constraints have put the brakes on greater density in parts of the eastern suburbs.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

As mayors affected by the changes prepare a summit to discuss one of the most dramatic overhauls to planning in Sydney in decades, Planning Minister Paul Scully has revealed that key suburbs in the east including Bondi Junction and Edgecliff were “currently limited in additional growth” because of constraints on infrastructure that proved difficult to overcome.

“We examined 305 sites based on their infrastructure to support new homes. The sites announced … [last week] were released first because they have essential infrastructure capacity available but still need rezonings for density to be delivered,” Scully said.

“There are parts of Sydney’s east that are currently limited in additional growth because of limited sewer and water infrastructure. Edgecliff as just one example is one of those.”

While Scully said the suburb and other parts of the east and north shore would see housing uplift as a result of zoning changes which will mean long-standing bans on building terraces, townhouses and two-storey apartment blocks will be lifted across council areas in Sydney, he revealed “this situation isn’t uniform across the eastern suburbs”.

“Bondi Junction, for example, already resembles a transport-oriented development site; they’re already building on their transport hubs with density,” he said.

The government provided Opal card data for both Bondi Junction and Chatswood to point to its transport infrastructure already being at “high capacity”. The data shows 10.3 million people passed through Bondi Junction and 12.6 million at Chatswood between January and October this year. That compared to 6 million at Lidcombe station in Sydney’s west, according to comparison data provided by the planning minister’s office.

“All parts of the planning reforms that the Minns government have announced will work together to deliver more housing across NSW,” Scully said.

The decision seemed to contradict the government’s long-running insistence that housing density in Sydney needed to be rebalanced away from the western suburbs.

Asked about the omission last week, Premier Chris Minns insisted “we’re not done yet” and urged patience as the government rolls out a series of reforms to tackle Sydney’s housing supply shortage.

The 31 suburbs chosen by the government will see land within 400 metres of a train station rezoned to increase housing density. Another eight Metro and heavy rail stations were also chosen for high-density transport-orientated development precincts. Those locations – Bankstown, Bays West, Bella Vista, Crows Nest, Homebush, Hornsby, Kellyville and Macquarie Park – will see land within a 1200-metre radius rezoned to allow increased housing.

The size of the precincts – and the fact that local councils were not told about the change before it was accidentally released by the government last week – has angered local mayors from across the political spectrum who are now organising to push back against some of the changes.

Inner West Council’s Labor mayor, Darcy Byrne, has organised a summit of the councils affected by the change for this Thursday and intends to ask Scully to attend. While he said increased density in the area surrounding the Bays was logical, “extending [the] high-density zoning into all surrounding suburbs is ludicrous and just won’t work”.

Byrne pointed out that the 1200-metre radius surrounding Bays West includes much of the Balmain Peninsula, which has been crippled by traffic chaos since $3.9 billion Rozelle Interchange opened.

“Why would we consider high-density rezoning of the existing suburbs adjacent to the Rozelle interchange after the traffic disaster of the past fortnight? We certainly won’t be considering significant zoning changes in our local suburbs until there’s a functional arterial road getting into and out of the place,” he said.

While Byrne said he supported the government’s changes to zoning laws to make it easier to deliver duplexes and low-to-medium density housing, the cost of development in areas such as Rozelle did not make economic sense.

“Given the massive cost of purchasing a terrace in Rozelle and surrounding suburbs, high-density rezoning wouldn’t deliver much new housing at all. You’d have to find a Saudi sheikh or a Russian oligarch to afford the astronomical cost of buying up blocks of homes for redevelopment,” he said.

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