The people of Sydney's north-west have spoken, with the NSW Government significantly scaling down their proposal for the Bella Vista and Kellyville Transport Oriented Development (TOD) precincts.
The Bella Vista and Kellyville Precincts already have capacity for 22,576 dwellings and the originally exhibited plans identified a further 20,700 additional homes beyond this. In the finalised plans, this has been reduced to an additional 4,600 homes.
However it wasn't all good news for Sydney's north-west, with Mayor of The Hills Shire Dr Michelle Byrne warning that the NSW Government's updated proposal was half-baked, did nothing to address longstanding infrastructure concerns and that the exhibition period should be re-opened so residents could have their say.
"While I'm glad the NSW Government's absurd original proposal has been scaled down, we need to know why all housing growth on the Blacktown side has disappeared and the additional growth has actually doubled on the Hills side," Mayor Byrne said.
"Instead of having an additional 18,200 homes on the Blacktown side as originally exhibited, Blacktown will now have no new homes while the Hills has an additional 4,600 on our side, in addition to the 18,600 homes we already have capacity for.
"This is a fundamentally different proposal in terms of the yield and built form outcomes on several key sites. Residents, businesses and Council should be afforded the opportunity to have their say.
"If Council or a developer submitted plans this light on detail, the NSW Government wouldn't even let us put it on exhibition. Meanwhile the Government is completely reshaping the face of The Hills Shire with the stroke of a pen.
"This is a major uplift and will require a significant investment from the NSW Government in infrastructure like local roads, schools, parks, playing fields and community facilities.
"The Government keeps talking about the $520 million they have to spend across eight TOD precincts, but still have released no plans on how they will use it.
"These will still be city-shaping precincts yet there's no funding for new schools, no funding for new playing fields, no funding for new community floor space and no flood study to back up how these buildings can actually be constructed."
Mayor Byrne said despite repeated requests for a meeting with Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Paul Scully, the rezoning announcements were made without any discussion between the Government and Council.
"It's disappointing that the Minister has steamrolled Council with this announcement. There are a lot of issues with this half-baked proposal that need to be addressed and now these rezonings will be made without us having a chance to voice our concerns," Mayor Byrne said.
"The first we heard of this announcement was when we read it in the papers this morning, before the Department had even finalised and released the extremely scant details which were published on their website this afternoon.
"The Hills Shire already has the most overcrowded schools in NSW and the Government's only commitment as part of this process is to undertake further investigations to increase school capacity.
"This simply isn't good enough and they need to act fast before quality of life for Hills residents is significantly eroded."
