I recently presented to the Property Council of Australia on the suite of planning docs on exhibition by NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure – A New Approach to Strategic Planning, the Statewide Industrial Lands Policy, and The Sydney Plan, which was a great opportunity to take a deep dive into the documents.
The new draft region plan is shorter, to the point, and unapologetically described by DPHI as being grounded in reality – possibly a subtle dig at previous plans. It is 70 pages long, compared to 190 pages for A Metropolis of Three Cities, losing some of the more visionary components of the previous plan, replacing them with shorter term, and explicitly land use focused, responses and actions.
Some of the interesting actions jumping out to me that government has committed to focusing on in the draft Sydney Plan in the next 2 – 3 years include:
– a continued focus on infill areas for housing supply
– investigating and implementing further statutory provisions to fast track Council-led housing proposals
– State government intervening where councils fail to meet housing targets
– requiring all councils to adopt an affordable housing contributions scheme
– creating new centre typologies across Sydney, but arguably losing some of the detail and nuance between the city’s various employment hubs
– reviewing controls in E1 and E2 zones for LMR areas to increase floor space
– releasing the Sydney Infrastructure Opportunities Plan (IOP) which will outline State infrastructure required to support new housing and employment, and which can be funded through WIKAs
– preparing a medium-term sequencing plan for greenfield precincts within Sydney, as well as releasing principles for rezoning greenfield precincts in the interim
– finalising the urban footprint mapping and assessing the interface between urban and rural lands.
District Plans are gone, and changes are anticipated to Local Strategic Planning Statements, which flow down from a new State Land Use Plan and Regional Plans.
Highly anticipated industrial lands mapping has been released which categorises precincts as being of state, regional, or local significance. While this means clearer precinct-by-precinct guidance compared to the previous broad approach, the vast majority of industrial land in Sydney (97%) is classified as being of state or regional significance – retaining very strong protections from rezonings (especially residential).
It will be interesting to continue watching industry’s response to the exhibited documents and see what changes make their way into the final documents – anticipated to be completed by the middle of the year.
Joe Bell – Director Policy and Strategy, Patch Planning
