Decision details

Moved by Councillor Scott, seconded by the Chair (the Lord Mayor) -

It is resolved that:

(A)      Council note:

(i)         on 5 December 2022 the Department of Planning and Environment announced 10 sites across NSW where the NSW Government will forcibly take over rezoning from local councils;

(ii)        that the NSW Government intends to remove planning powers from a range of NSW councils to rezone land for 70,000 new dwellings under their Rezoning Pathways Program;

(iii)      that under the program, the NSW Government will assess and select State or regionally significant planning proposals, or lead the rezoning work from start to finish, with all land to be rezoned by 2024;

(iv)      Explorer Street in Eveleigh, including the social housing estate, within the City of Sydney, is on the list of land where planning powers have been removed from council;

(v)       in 2020, the NSW Government announced a proposal to renew the Explorer Street social housing estate in Eveleigh, Sydney, which forms part of the five total locations within the City of Sydney;

(vi)      the NSW Land and Housing Corporation started community consultation with Explorer Street in November 2020;

(vii)     confusingly, the NSW Government Website lists Explorer Street as being at both the ‘preliminary planning’ and ‘scoping’ stages;

(viii)    the Housing Renewal Project will deliver 4,250 new homes, 1,260 of which will be social housing – less than 30 per cent of the total dwellings planned for the site that is currently 100 per cent public housing;

(ix)      the Rezoning Pathways Program continues the past actions of the NSW Government, who have repeatedly sought to take control of public housing upgrades and rezoning from councils;

(x)       local governments are best placed to consider plans relating to the development and rezoning of social housing; and

(xi)      that there should be a preservation of a mix of dwelling types and that Council should advocate for the consideration of maintaining family housing in the provision of public housing;

(B)      the Chief Executive Officer be requested to provide Council with a proposed course of action that enables the City to advocate for a substantial portion of social and affordable housing on the site, within a development of an appropriate bulk and scale via the CEO Update prior to the end of 2022; and

(C)      the Lord Mayor be requested to write to the Minister for Planning and the Shadow Minister for Planning to request the planning powers be reinstated to the City of Sydney Council for the Explorer Street social housing estate in Eveleigh, and for all other social and affordable housing sites into the future.

The motion, as varied by consent, was carried unanimously.

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