Planning reforms put 100k-plus new homes in the radar in NSW

The Minns government has announced it will amend planning laws to permit mid-rise homes and terraces in R2 zones, in their bid to increase housing supply. The newly amended State Environmental Planning Policy (SEPP) will override local councils that wish to block densification.

Currently, only two of 32 Local Environmental Plans (LEPs) across Sydney permit medium density dwellings in R2 zones. Even in R3 zones, a category explicitly designated for medium density, 60 per cent of LEPs in Sydney prohibit flats of any kind.

“Sydney is one of the least dense cities in the world,” said Paul Scully, Minister for Planning and Public Spaces.

“We’re confronting a housing crisis so we need to change the way we plan for more housing. We can’t keep building out, we need to create capacity for more infill, with more diverse types of homes,” he remarked.

Mr Scully pointed to Wollstonecraft, Waverton, Erskineville, and parts of Wollongong and Newcastle as areas where medium-density communities are already thriving.

The proposed changes will allow:

• Dual occupancies in all R2 residential zones across NSW.
• Terraces, townhouses and two-storey apartment blocks near transport hubs and town centres in R2 residential zones across Sydney, the Central Coast, the Hunter and the Illawarra.
• Mid-rise apartment blocks (three to six storeys) near transport hubs, town centres and employment hubs in R3 zones, with the aim of delivering housing a 10-minute walk from amenities.

If local government’s planning rules already match this – or facilitate even higher density – the state government stated that its changes will not apply.

“Density done well means townhouses, apartments and terraces clustered near shops, high streets and parks,” said Mr Scully.

He added: “Diversity of housing allows people to stay in their communities and neighbourhoods through different stages of their life, with family and friends able to live nearby. More housing choice means more options for everyone – renters, families, empty nesters.”

If the proposed amendments come into effect, the NSW government estimates that it would create capacity to deliver 112,000 new homes across the state’s major metropolitan areas.

This would comprise 30 per cent of the 377,000 new homes that NSW has committed to delivering by 2029.