At the behest of the developer lobby, both Liberal and Labor in New South Wales will meet to discuss fundamental reform of the state’s planning act in order to progress housing developments.
The act, which was introduced in 1979, has undergone many changes almost all at the urging of developers complaining about “barriers’’. Key targets were public participation, environment protections and local council plans. Another ongoing concern has been to curb corruption after warnings from Independent Commission Against Corruption about the behaviour of some developers and decision makers, hidden from public view.
It is absolutely crucial that development decisions are transparent and accountable and that protection of the natural environment and advancing future sustainability are not traded off for development. It’s about balance and it is clear that the intent of the recent developer push is to distort this balance well beyond civil tolerance levels. Whether you are a YIMBY or NIMBY – you should be worried.
Almost every protection is under attack.
Many environment groups fully appreciate the need for denser housing and Total Environment Centre has long advocated for higher densities near major transit nodes and mid-level development elsewhere. However, under the guise of the housing crisis, almost every protection is under attack.
For example, the Urban Development Institute criticised recent changes to improve the environment protection outcomes of the biodiversity offsets scheme. It will make it harder to deliver housing and infrastructure, they bemoaned.
This scheme has been roundly criticised by the Audit Office, the independent Henry review and scientists, as sending threatened species onto the path of extinction. Dodgy offsets have allowed the clearing of critical habitat, fragmenting remnant forest into unsustainable patches or complete removal.
Urban sprawl is not being curbed
Are we really going to allow Koalas to disappear from the landscape? This is a real risk on the edge of Sydney, as urban sprawl pushes into the bushland, despite the Minns government saying it would curb urban sprawl, in favour of greater density.
Another target is community participation and development assessment plans that allow some time for the locals and councils to comment.
An important adjunct to the Planning Act was the introduction of a community participation charter. Whether you are a NIMBY or a recent YIMBY arrival, you will want to know what is happening to your neigbourhood and suburb. It’s a basic democratic right.
Having sufficient time to review development applications especially for the adequacy of information is the bedrock of assessment. Too often developers submit incomplete and highly biased information that hides significant impacts. But the developer lobby wants faster decisions that can inhibit external review leading to pollution, serious traffic congestion and dangerous urban heat. These are not trivial things – they harm people.
The blue-green grid needs to be part of the Planning Act
For the past couple of years Total Environment Centre has been pressing for legislative recognition of the blue-green grid – a web of green and waterway spaces and tree canopy for Sydney.
We know this is a high priority for current and future residents, not only for amenity but to combat urban heat and climate change. But government continues to rely on unenforceable guidelines and ad hoc programs.
It should be part of the Planning Act or a state planning regulation, not a dispensable option. Bet the developers won’t support that.
In the latter days of the previous Liberal state government, the then Planning Minister, Anthony Roberts threw out a far reaching sustainability policy aiming for parks, walkability, better apartment ventilation, urban heat and climate response, produced by his predecessor. He announced the move at a developers’ victory lunch.
Are we about to see the same disgraceful behaviour by both major parties when they convene to reform the Planning Act? Effective public consultation, environment protection, adequate time and data for development assessment, sustainability and the Blue-Green Grid are non-negotiable.
Overreach at the urgings of the developers, must be avoided.