Resident groups campaigning on ‘OVERdevelopment – we’re OVER it!’ had a big victory when the Independent Planning Commission — which spent a day (20 May 2019) listening to well prepared submissions by residents — actually compared the official planning ‘Vision’ with the reality of developers’ dreams.
It has been a long campaign against the expectations of developers that planning ‘visions’ are just words when it comes to proposals for massive residential development. Some of that campaign can be seen lower on this page (or click here). Developers’ dreams seem to be encouraged by planners and politicians at the state and local levels — but they don’t necessarily come true.
The IPC’s role is to give advice to the Minister for Planning and Places. Its full report is here. The IPC’s advice is clear and direct, as these three extracts show.
- 36 …The Commission is therefore not satisfied that the planning proposal would deliver enough public open space to provide “sunny tree-lined public spaces” and “lively and active streets”, which
are elements of the Vision. - 150 …the Commission considers the scale of residential development in Council’s planning proposal would represent an overdevelopment of the site.
- 155 The Commission considers that no rezoning of the site is required to meet the GSC’s current housing targets under its North District Plan as the housing targets are currently likely to be exceeded without the proposed delivery of a further 2,400 dwellings.
The report in the Sydney Morning Herald is here.