The NSW state government appeared to accidentally publish its plan for housing density online this week. As reported in Nine Newspapers, the documents briefly appeared online, complete with Latin filler text, before being removed from the government website.
The documents confirm Premier Chris Minns’s foreshadowed housing density push, which includes zoning for high-density residential development around eight metro and heavy rail stations that are located in metropolitan Sydney. However, the documents also suggest the vicinity of a further 31 heavy rail stations will also be zoned for high- or medium-density residential across Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong.
Contentiously, the 31 stations include the gentrified Dulwich Hill and Marrickville in the city’s inner west, as well as north shore stations Roseville, Killara, Lindfield and Gordon.
Pushback is already in the works, starting with the Labor and Greens-dominated Inner West Council. The council is proceeding with a plan to heritage list four single-storey houses that are located a 600m walk from trains and a 500m walk from trams in Dulwich Hill. Together, the blocks cover 4,000 square metres that could be used for low-rise apartments based on the new laws proposed by the Minns government.
According to pro-development group Sydney YIMBY, the heritage listing is opposed by the owners themselves.
The housing density push has bilateral political support in NSW, after the Liberals called for Minns to go even harder on the issue. This means it is essentially councils and homeowners versus a wide majority of the state parliament.
Despite these hiccups, Minns has had another win for housing density with the closure of Rosehill Racecourse. Rosehill will make way for apartment development and a Rosehill metro station will be added to the Sydney West metro line.
Sydney’s population is now over 5.1 million, having grown at 1.3% per year since the start of the pandemic.
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