Townhouses, duplexes or rows of up to 10 terraces could pop up in any Wollongong suburb without consultation with surrounding residents under a new state government plan, Wollongong councillors have warned.
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On Monday, they unanimously supported a council staff submission objecting to a proposed NSW Government policy change designed to encourage more higher density housing.
The new medium density housing code would expand the types of buildings able to be waved through as complying developments – which can be approved by private certifiers without a development application and public submissions process through the council – to include townhouses, .
Wollongong council staff say this could create “community distrust, confusion and ambiguity toward the planning system”, as it would remove transparency and public scrutiny from the decision making from the approval process.
They also said neighbours of medium density homes approved via complying development would only need to be given two days notice before construction began and raised concerns about the lack of scrutiny of environmental contraints like flooding, bushfire risk, trees, heritage and traffic generation.
Supporting the council staff submission, Labor’s David Brown said the government’s proposed policy change was “quite disturbing” and looked like “a charter to ramp up second rate developments” as it would not consider issues like solar access, view sharing and privacy of neighbours.
He pointed out that some areas of Wollongong would suit higher density homes, but believed councils should demarcate areas able to cope with extra pressure on transport and other infrastructure.
Likewise, Janice Kershaw said it was “just wrong” that higher density homes would be considered as complying development.
“I know our residents want to be consulted if they’re getting dual occupancies next to them, or three or four dwellings on one block next to them, or terrace houses up to 10 next door to them,” she said.
Jill Merrin worried the blanket approach would remove low density areas across the Illawarra.
“Is that what we really want? Where all of our low density suburbs, houses on big blocks of land, at any time, without any public consultation, can be turned into town houses, terrace houses, manor houses?”
In explaining proposed changes to the housing code, the government said low rise, medium density homes like townhouses and terraces provided “a low cost and sustainable way to achieve higher densities with minimal impact of the existing urban form”.
Kate McIlwain
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
