In December 2023, the NSW Department of Planning and Environment released its “Explanation of Intended Effect” (EoE) for proposed low and mid-rise housing reforms, aiming to address the housing crisis by enabling increased residential development in urban areas near transports and town centres. The reforms will propose significant changes to house permissibility, development controls and landscape regulations with public exhibition concluding in February 2024.
The housing crisis is a major concern for many individuals with an extensive shortfall of dwellings. The EoE is attempting to address this by by supplying new housing in existing urban areas (known as “infill development”), to facilitate low and mid-rise housing “near established town centres, and in areas where there is good public transport”. The proposed reforms look to expand the permissibility and development controls for certain forms of residential developments. Notably, the proposed reform would expand the permissibility of residential developments by:
- Permit “mid-rise apartment blocks” in “R3 Medium Density Residential” zones within “station and town centre precincts” in the “Six Cities Region” (i.e. greater Sydney region plus Wollongong and Newcastle areas);
- Permit multi dwelling housings, including terraces in “R2 Low Density Residential” zones within “station and town centre precincts” within the “Six Cities Region”; and
- Permit dual occupies in all R2 Low Density Residential zones across all of NSW.
“Station and town centre precincts” is a new terminology that the proposed reform has introduced. The SIE indicates “station and town centre precincts” will be defined by reference to walking distance from key locations, such as heavy or light rail stations, and metro stations, land zoned E2 Commercial Centre or SP5 Metropolitan Centre, and areas zoned E1 local Centre MU1 Mixed Use where the zone contains a wide range of frequently needed goods and services, such as full line supermarkets, shops and restaurants.
Besides expanding the areas in which certain forms of low and medium density housing developments may be carried out, reforms are also proposed to introduce “non-refusal standards” for eligible developments. These “non-refusal standards” will set the maximum restrictions that local councils can impose under its Local Environmental Plan or the Development Control Plan (but would allow councils to set more permissive standards). For example, for sites within 400 metres from a “station and town centre precinct”, the maximum building height standard for residential flat buildings is proposed to be 21 metres, whereas the standard for the same development on sites located 400 – 800 metres from a “station and town centre precinct” is proposed to be 16 metres.
Lastly, the EoE also refers to the proposals to introduce landscape targets for low and mid-rise developments based on the size of the development sites. For instance, the proposed tree planting rates for residential flat building developments on land less than 650m2 will be one small tree for every 350m2, which increase to at least 2 medium trees or one large tree for every 575m2 of site areas on sites greater than 1,500m2.
Public consultations for the proposed reforms were underway and the EoE was on public exhibition until 23 February 2024.
Submissions made: Since then, some Councils have made submissions, some of which criticised the proposed reforms as a one-size-fits-all proposal. Various Councils have submitted that Councils should be allowed to identify alternative solutions and that they disagree with the scale and density proposed in the EoE, and that such proposal takes away Councils’ ability to properly and strategically plan for growth in their areas.
Next Steps: The proposal is currently under consideration, and the Department is yet to publish its response to various submissions as made in relation to the EoE. It is anticipated that the reforms will be finalised in 2024 with multiple changes to current planning legislation to come.
