Darcy Byrne Slams Northern Sydney Mayors For Anti-Housing Plan Comments

Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne has criticised Northern Sydney mayors for public comments they made on increased housing developments, saying the new homes were “desperately needed”.

The Sydney Morning Herald published the comments on Thursday morning in a story about 70,200 fast-tracked homes, as the Minns government attempts to meet its National Housing Accord target of 377,000 new completed homes by mid-2029.

Hills Shire Council Mayor Michelle Byrne criticised the government for their lack of forward planning, saying, “The state government is approving homes with the same restraint as someone tapping their credit card on a big night out.”

North Sydney Mayor Zoe Baker also warned of a “tsunami of projects”, and that the increased residential development in commercial areas would “totally undermine the decades of careful planning to ensure there is employment land in CBDs across Greater Sydney”.

This morning, Byrne called for councils across Sydney to step up to solve the housing crisis, citing both comments from Baker and Byrne.

“Every day, we see more examples of Liberal party representatives and North Shore politicians opposing new housing in all its forms while ignoring the cries of young people across Sydney for new homes to be delivered,” he said in a statement delivered to City Hub.

“Billions of dollars of public money was spent on the North-West Metro, but the Liberal politicians believe that they have no responsibility to support new housing that should go with this highly expensive, rapid public transport.

“Our citizens are sick and tired of Northern Sydney politicians refusing to pull their weight. Ongoing delays and opposition to new homes is an abandonment of young people, essential workers, and renters in Sydney.”

Housing not sorted in Byrne’s own electorate

In his statement, Byrne went on to reference the Inner West Council’s controversial Fairer Future Plan, which has been accused of lacking “meaningful, accountable engagement” with the community.

More than 430 people gathered at a community forum held by the by the Better Future Coalition on 27 July, where they overwhelmingly rejected Inner West Council’s ‘Our Fairer Future’ draft local development (LEP) plan.

They criticised the number of incentives for developers in the plan, and the Inner West Council’s plans for an additional 31,000 homes in the area.

After Byrne issued comment accusing the group of “NIMBYism“, the Coalition last week told City Hub that the Inner West Council’s refusal to engage community members affected by the changes in a transparent, accessible way forced them to organise their own meeting.

“The “Fairer Future” Plan relies almost entirely on private developers to deliver public benefit (not their remit) and on the demolition of well-established neighbourhoods and town centres, with complete disregard for the social and cultural fabric that connects them, whilst displacing renters (residents and businesses) of the area’s older, affordable buildings – including vulnerable community members – with no promise of them being able to remain in business or stay living in the community.

“The fact that the Mayor seems determined to vilify hundreds of his own, justifiably concerned, constituents as ‘NIMBY activist groups campaigning to prevent new homes’, while enthusiastically endorsing almost identical recommendations from affordable housing bodies raises the question of whose interests he is trying to serve.”

A vote on the Plan has been postponed to the September council meeting after more than 1221 submissions were received.

CityHub contacted Byrne for comment but had not received a reply by the time of publication.