The Planning Institute of Australia has used strong words in response to the bevy of announcements that have come from the New South Wales government in response to the housing crisis. Here’s a lightly edited version of its media statement this week:
A succession of yuletide announcements leaves the Planning Institute (PIA) yearning for collaboration on a better strategic planning result,” the institute said in a media statement this week.
PIA strongly supports NSW accommodating population growth and urban renewal – especially when more affordable and diverse housing is made available. We look to regional and local strategies to make the trade offs so that housing is in the right place and builds more inclusive communities – not just denser ones.”
The institute said it supported a transit-oriented development (TOD) State Environmental Planning Policy (SEPP) where the reforms create great places over the long term – tailored to the characteristics and capacity of different places.
PIA NSW President Sue Weatherley said:
“The capacity to accommodate housing density is not just about being near a railway or metro station – it is the full suite of services, schools, social and affordable housing and open space that makes a place liveable – and more inclusive for its community.”
“Every transit precinct is different. PIA supports the TOD SEPP enabling local master planning in collaboration with councils and the local community to get the local design details right. Rezoning should not be ‘one size fits’ all.”
PIA understands that a new tranport oriented development (TOD) state environmental planning policy will enable upzoning for denser housing across eight (tier 1) and 31 other transit precincts (tier 2).
It supports the mandate for at least a 15 per centcontribution for affordable housing (in perpetuity) to be applied to both tiers and looks forward to considering the evidence for the location and scale of TOD precincts and housing targets in the Region Plan and integrated long term transport strategy.
Together with Shelter NSW the institute has advocated for “inclusive renewal”.
Sue Weatherley said: “We don’t want the TOD SEPP to displace low income residents from places that are great to live in and near jobs. This is why PIA support an affordable housing contributions regime and forward planning for the funding and delivery social infrastructure.
“We cannot afford to sequence infrastructure investment poorly – nor fail to design liveable neighborhoods when we are planning for over 185,000 new dwellings in the TOD precincts.”
The institute anticipates collaborating on the implementation of the TOD SEPP and Housing SEPP amendments. PIA is also looking forward to working with government in the reform of housing development assessment processes to improve certainty, accuracy and speed.
“The planning industry is invested in reducing development risks – as well as shaping great places” Ms Weatherley said.
See recent articles in The Fifth Estate by Tim Sneesby that call into question recent announcements by the NSW government on planning and housing.
The New South Wales government’s current planning agenda is characterised by random, ad hoc bonuses and giveaways not linked to a broader strategic intent or public interest case – with no understanding of how the housing market works, nor its relationship strategic planning, Sneesby says.
See:
- Does this stack up? A couple more storeys to fix housing. Nero thinks so
- and The Greater Cities Commission excelled at the excuses used to abolish it – so what’s about to happen now?
And in another article, Cameron Murray debunks the economic argument used for upzoning in New Zealand.
“My colleague Tim Helm and I have recently explained (twice over) why a popular method used to assess the effect on total new housing dwelling development in Auckland due to upzoning is unsuitable for the task,” he says.
See