On Housing
Immigrants are not in any way responsible for the housing shortage. The responsibility rests solely with Federal and State Governments.
Both State and Federal Government of all shades appear to think that making public statements about how many houses they are going to build solves the problem, as well as constantly seeming to rely on unrealistic ‘one off’ possibilities, such as developing the Rosehill race course for housing.
The Government of NSW is trying to rely on building on the current infrastructure that exists in the areas nearer to the centre of Sydney; the TOD (Transport Orientated Development) for example. While this can be part of a plan for building more accommodation, what really needs to happen is for an area to be declared a development area. The State Government should then provide the infrastructure that will enable development to take place. Most of these areas are on the outer fringes of the existing boundaries of the city- there are large area in the Liverpool LGA and Camden that could be part of such a plan.
That the NSW Planning system is ‘Not fit for Purpose’ is no longer in question. It’s almost development by stealth. Consider the following:
When the Mowbray Precinct, in Lane Cove North, was declared a development area some fifteen years ago, the height limit for developments was set at 14.5 metres. Through various devices generated by NSW Planning, such as allowing a height limit of 17 metres in the western part of the precinct where the Land and Housing Corporation owned property, and then the creation of Sections 4.6 and 4.55 which allowed for further height increases, there is now no development in the area with a height of less than 21 metres. This will result in severe overcrowding in the narrow roads and endless parking problems. The various planning panels (Lane Cove and Sydney North) appear to have no authority or the will to do anything.
Furthermore, the introduction of Private Certifiers is little more than an invitation to corruption.
Any rules that do exist are just ignored at will. An example of this is the recent approval of a development at 2 Finlayson Street, Lane Cove, which included the redevelopment of a church, which is not a problem in itself, but in order to make commercial sense of the project it included building a block of flats on the top of the church. All the height restrictions applicable to the area have been substantially exceeded, and the TOD concession laboriously negotiated by Lane Cove Council was totally ignored. The area will be a mess for years to come, and the precedents set by this project for development in surrounding areas will last at least ten years. The 47 flats included as part of the project will have a miniscule effect on the supply of housing.
Another issue is that it appears Sydney Water does not have the capacity to service all the developments that are planned. In fact, they have said that they have capacity to service 120 000 new developments in the next five years. If this is indeed the case something needs to be done about the capacity of Sydney Water as a priority.
So, in summary.
State Government needs to ensure that Sydney Water has the capacity to service the required number of required developments.
State Government needs to develop a coherent Planning Policy with clear rules which should be adhered to. The planning policy should reconsider the need to local planning panels that appear to have no function. In Lane Cove we had better outcomes when the Lane Cove Council were the final authority for development approvals.
State Government, perhaps in conjunction with Federal authorities, should establish one or two large areas to be developed and then get on with it and provide the needed infrastructure.
Both State and Federal Governments need to stop making pronouncements about how many houses they are going to build and get on and build some houses.