Councils must be part of the housing density solution

Councils are seeking urgent talks following reports that seven zones in the Sydney metropolitan area have been chosen for a massive increase in housing density.

The President of Local Government NSW, Cr Darriea Turley AM, said that for the plan to succeed, councils needed to be part of the solution not sidelined.

“I urge the Government to cooperate and include local councils and their communities in any future planning decisions for these sites,” Cr Turley said. Without community buy-in these plans will be very diffcult to accomplish.

“Councils are the closest level of government to the community, and need to be a key voice in the process.

“We all want liveable communities with high quality housing.

“Home buyers investing their life savings in these higher density developments have a right to know the homes they buy are long-lasting quality builds.

”We need to ensure all these conditions are met to give communities fresh confdence in higher density housing.”

Cr Turley said an additional key requirement to get communities on board was a clear commitment by the Government to provide critical local infrastructure, including roads, public transport, parks, public schools and hospitals before any housing is approved.

“It’s not acceptable to drastically increase housing supply and suburban populations without the infrastructure to support them,” she said.

She noted that the Government had offered the Opposition a full briefng on the proposal in a bid to secure bipartisan support.

“I’m calling on the Premier to give councils the same briefng,” she said.

“We have consistently sought to take a collaborative and positive approach to working with the Government to help ease the housing crisis.”