Clover Moore gives council’s case against Rezoning Pathways Program

By LAUREN FROST

Lord Mayor Clover Moore has written to Minister for Planning Anthony Roberts to plead the City of Sydney Council’s case against the State Government’s controversial Rezoning Pathways Program.

Under the program, the NSW Government has forcibly taken over the rezoning of 10 sites across the state, including Explorer Street, Eveleigh which contains a social housing estate.

“I request that planning powers be reinstated to the City of Sydney Council for the Explorer Street social housing estate in Eveleigh,” Lord Mayor Clover Moore wrote in her letter to the Minister for Planning, “and for all other social and affordable housing sites in our Local Government Area into the future”.

The letter from Moore has come as a result of a motion put forward by Councillor Linda Scott in a Council meeting on the 12th of December last year. It was unanimously resolved by the City of Sydney Council that the Lord Mayor take action against the Rezoning Pathways Program by writing to the Minister for Planning.

This was largely due to the implications the removal of Council planning power would have for the Explorer Street social housing estate.

“They are taking a site that is 100% public housing and turning it into a site where less than 30% of the total dwellings planned for the site are social housing”, Cr Scott said in the meeting in December.

Not Good Enough

Co-founder and Partner of HDC Planning, Gilbert Blandin de Chalain said of the Rezoning Pathways Program, “While I don’t ever believe that the NSW Department of Planning and Environment has the complete solution to housing undersupply and ever escalating housing unaffordability, I do believe that the Department can play an important role in helping to unlock developable land to increase housing supply.”

“My disappointment with the Rezoning Pathways program is that it does not go far enough,” he said.

“The Rezoning Pathways Program is a worthy attempt to increase housing supply, but rezoning land is but one part of the housing delivery process. Much more work must be done on speeding up key infrastructure provision and local government development consent processes.”

However, the City of Sydney Council believes that the Rezoning Pathways Program taking planning decisions away from council is a step in the wrong direction, arguing that local governments are better equipped to adequately address the housing concerns of the community.

“Local Governments are best placed to consider plans relating to the development and rezoning of land,” Lord Mayor Clover Moore said to Roberts.

“Appropriate consideration should be given to dwelling mix and maintaining family housing in the provision of public housing.”