‘Five years to get nowhere’: Minister slams Sydney council over housing impasse

Housing Minister Rose Jackson has scolded a Labor-led Sydney council after it voted to delay a public housing renewal project that has waited more than five years for approval.

Bayside Council last month deferred consideration of a proposal by the state-owned Land and Housing Corporation to demolish 26 ageing public housing units in Mascot and build 152 new apartments – 45 of them public housing – in buildings up to eight storeys.

The public housing site is on the corner of Botany Road and Coward Street in Mascot.Credit: Planning documents

The government needs approval to increase the height limit and dispense with a local planning requirement for shops on the ground floor.

The Land and Housing Corporation (LAHC) lodged the paperwork in late 2017 and revised the proposal in October 2021 in response to council feedback. The council then asked the LAHC for a heritage impact statement, site-specific development control plan and economic impact assessment – all of which were commissioned at public expense and provided.

But Bayside Council now says it needs another one or two years to investigate the area’s potential and draft its own master plan. Jackson said she was “pretty disappointed” with the decision and the government may appeal to the independent planning panel.

Housing Minister Rose Jackson.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“This proposal predates the last two elections,” she said. “It’s doubling the number of dwellings, it’s consistent with the heights of the area, it’s on Botany Road. We need projects like this to get off the ground, and we can’t wait five years, site by site, for this stuff to not even be approved.”

The Mascot example reveals how difficult it can be to complete even a small housing project, and shows the stalemate that occurs when state and local governments fail to co-operate.

A report by council officers that was unanimously endorsed by councillors said proceeding with the development before a master plan was completed would “set an undesirable precedent, lead to ad hoc planning, and undermine any future vision of this part of Botany Road”.

“While the panel understands the need for affordable and social housing, this is a strategically important precinct, which requires an appropriate level of investigation to enable master planning,” the report said.

During the debate, Labor councillor Bill Saravinovski said there was “a dire need for public housing” but there were not enough public units in the proposal, and the real beneficiary would be the developer.

Labor Mayor Christina Curry said it was vital these sites were not planned in isolation. “The LEP [local environment plan] is a particular height for a particular reason. Doubling that, in my personal view, is extreme,” she said during the council debate.

“I like living here”: Mascot resident Lena Borg, 77, does not want her home redeveloped into a higher-density housing complex.Credit: Nikki Short

Curry later told the Herald her council was doing a lot to support affordable housing. “But council’s view is that decisions need to be made holistically. You need to look at the surrounding area, you need to look at the planning controls to make sure it is the right development in the right area.”

Lena Borg, who has lived in the affected precinct for the past 22 of her 77 years, said she heard rumours about a potential redevelopment. She was not keen to relocate, even temporarily. “I’m happy here, I’ve lived here so long,” she said. “[It] will take ages, I might not still be alive.”

Manny Bustamante, 27, did not think more housing nearby would benefit his family-run Chilean cafe, Pochito, on Botany Road.

Manny Bustamante runs his family cafe on Botany Road but does not think it would benefit from more housing nearby.Credit: Nikki Short

“It’s getting very congested here,” he said. “It’s a combination of everywhere now in Sydney, the inner west, it’s just too high density, and it comes with traffic and stuff like that.”

Consultancy FPD Planning prepared a 70-page report for the LAHC supporting the development, and director Michael File told councillors there was an insatiable demand for public housing and supply was falling well short.

“We’ve heard a lot in the media about the housing crisis and the calls for more social housing and more private housing,” he said. “This, in my opinion, is a prime site for redevelopment, and if not now, then when? When will the master plan be complete and when would this proposal be progressed? We can’t see any impediment to the two happening in tandem.”

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