Council Calling for Change to Boarding House Planning Laws

I think there would be few who would argue that NSW planning laws are working for the community.

On the Northern Beaches the number of applications for boarding houses, under SEPP 70 (Sate Enviroment Planning Policy) is raising alarm bells as more and more applications are being lodge for what ares considered inappropriate locations and overdevelopment of the sites.  Areas such as  parts of Manly, Balgowlah and more recently Wheeler Heights & Allambie Heights. A good  case in point is a current application in Frenchs Forest where homes on three blocks of land could be replaced by 100 units.       And Council has little or no power to stop it.

In what seemed like a good idea at the time (2009),  the  NSW Labor Government looked for ways to encourage developers to  build "affordable housing", offering major incentives such as no requirement for on-site parking, much smaller living dwellings and no Section 94 council payment contributions.   (Section 94 (s94) contributions plans set out the local infrastructure required to meet the demand from new development, and the contributions a council can levy on developers to fund the necessary land and works.)  

Now there is a major push from Councils to be able to apply their existing DCP (Development Control Plans) to any application and that SEPP developments should not be exempt.

At the Northern Beaches Council meeting last week, Councillors voted unanimously to urge the  Minister for Planning to put a moratorium on the SEPP until serious planning issues can be resolved.