The Urban Taskforce will be making a submission to the NSW Upper House Portfolio Committee number 7 (don’t they have a knack for quirky marketing in the NSW Legislative Council?) on infrastructure contributions reform and the Bill currently before the Parliament, which was tabled alongside the budget.
 

The Urban Taskforce is likely to support the Bill, but with qualifications and suggestions for improvement.
 

The qualifications come from our members’ concerns that this Bill represents only one side of the policy framework coin.  The missing part is the detail which is still to be developed through Regulations and Directions.
 

This Bill establishes the legislative framework for the implementation of the Productivity Commission recommendations from the Review into Infrastructure Contributions.
 

Broadening the base for Infrastructure Contributions (through the new Regional Infrastructure Contribution) is supported – but what is missing here is any direct link to actual improvements in approvals of more homes so the current affordability crisis can be addressed.  We are being asked to commit to a new tax without any detail on how it will be administered and without any mandate on Government to do its job and ensure approvals to deliver supply to meet demand.
 

The work of the Productivity Commission has been sound.  But it must be remembered that they are a 100% subsidiary of the NSW Treasury.  The revenue arm of Treasury is always keen for opportunities to raise more revenue. 
 

What is missing from the Bill is a solid commitment from Government to urgently address housing supply. 
 

The current planning reform processes (some aspects of which will actually make things worse not better) is too slow and too limited to solve the housing supply crisis (that many in DPIE denied existed until recently). Without a strong drive for increased housing approvals and delivery of much needed supporting local and regional infrastructure, this is all just more new taxes on new home owners.  Without increased supply in numbers, this will just add to the housing affordability crisis.
 

Urban Taskforce will call for a greater focus on housing supply across Sydney.  If the new up-front imposition of Land Vale Contributions and the imposition of Regional Infrastructure charges assists in delivering infrastructure which sees genuine increases in density and a solid contribution to addressing the housing supply crisis – then that is a good thing. The commitment to establish these imposts early is welcome. But without a commitment to increase the role of State led rezoning of major housing projects, we do not see any likelihood of a dramatic increase in housing supply.  In this case, prices will continue to rise.  Similarly, without any demonstrated commitment to hold Councils to account to deliver new housing approvals, while some will deliver, in aggregate, the past 10 years of under supply shows that they will not.
 

Urban Taskforce will take a positive approach to the hearings of the Legislative Council Portfolio Committee and call upon members to seek commitments from the Government to work with industry to ensure that the details of the new taxes and levies actually deliver greater housing supply, through more and faster approvals from the planning system.

Click here to read the Bill.
 

Greater Sydney Councils were required to finalise their revised LEPs by July 2021 (or by June 2020 for the 18 councils who were recipients of the $2.5 million in funding from the NSW Government). Northern Beaches Council were in no rush and did not bother even applying for extra funding.

Northern Beaches Council clearly thinks that it has done enough.  While rising new home prices are forcing their children out of the region, far far away, the Northern Beaches Council has taken five years since it amalgamated in May 2016 to produce a (wait for it) … DISCUSSION PAPER!

The Council has committed to exhibiting their draft LEP and DCP in mid-2022.

For those who were hoping for a modern and flexible approach to planning that delivers a vision for the future growth of the area,  prepare to be underwhelmed.

The discussion paper states that the new LEP and DCP will be “mainly based on existing controls and does not seek to increase building heights or densities in residential areas, except as provided for by the Northern Beaches Local Housing Strategy, which identifies a need for only 275 additional dwellings (over and above those already zoned) within the next 15 years.”

So feet–up folks: while the rest of Sydney struggles to deal with population growth and increased density, Northern Beaches Council has it all sorted.

Not surprisingly, Council’s initial proposals are hardly earth-shattering. They include:

• permitting dual occupancy development in Housing Diversity Areas (HDAs) in R2 Low Density residential zones within 400m of Avalon Beach, Newport, Warriewood, Belrose and Freshwater
• prohibiting dual occupancies and other medium density housing types in R2 areas outside the HDAs 
• limiting boarding houses and seniors housing to areas closer to centres
• changes to the B5 Business Development, B6 Enterprise Corridor and B7 Business Park zones under current LEPs, including new B5 zones in part of the Warriewood B7 zone, the Austlink B7 precinct, and the whole Balgowlah B6 zone, to delineate existing bulky goods or large format retail clusters from other employment zones
• provisions to “protect commercial floor space and restrict large scale retailing in local centres”
• an 11-18-metre building height limit for the Frenchs Forest Business Park B7 zone.
• a small height increase in existing industrial zones to support a transition to higher density industrial uses and incentivise renewal in industrial areas

Northern Beaches Council is not serious about any form of lateral thinking to make a contribution to housing supply. It should be noted that a decision on the Local Housing Strategy currently sits with DPIE.

Submissions to the Discussion Paper can made until August 8.
 

The Northen Beaches LEP and DCP Discussion Paper can be found here.