UDIA NSW has today called on the NSW Parliament to support policies that will boost housing supply and reject legislation from the Opposition that would allow parts of the Transport Oriented Development Scheme to be abolished.
“State Environmental Planning Policies allow Government to set rules around the types of development that can occur across our state. They have never been subject to disallowance or alteration by the NSW Parliament. A cornerstone of their existence is to provide certainty to the community, councils and developers about the types of developments that can occur,” said UDIA NSW CEO Stuart Ayres.
Transport Oriented Development is the globally accepted standard for increasing housing density and will deliver liveable and connected new communities and address decades of housing undersupply. Rather than scaling back the program, with 216 heavy rail and Metro stations built or planned across our rail network, we should be exploring every opportunity to expand it.
Not only would this legislation undermine the TOD program, but it would set a dangerous precedent where key policies, critical to the operation of the NSW planning system, could be abolished or amended on a whim.
The NSW planning system is already the most risky and challenging in the country – at a time when development feasibility has never been more challenging, the last thing we need is to introduce more development risk into the system.
“NSW is in the midst of a housing supply and feasibility crisis. Parliamentarians should be putting citizens first and working together to ensure there are more places for people to call home,” said Stuart Ayres.
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Media Enquiries: Deanna Lane, Director, Media & Communications UDIA NSW and National:
0416 295 898 or dlane@udiansw.com.au