The state government has almost quadrupled Woollahra Council’s 5 year new housing target to 1,900 for the period from July 2024 to June 2026. According to an article in The Daily Telegraph, “Woollahra has had the biggest increase of 280%, from 500 to 1,900. Waverley was hit with a 215% increase of 2,400 homes, up from 761 homes previously.”
To put Woollahra Council’s target in perspective, it means a staggering 6.5% increase in the number of dwellings in the municipality in just 5 years!
At its meeting on Monday July 8th, the Council passed a resolution requesting that the Mayor write to the NSW Premier, the Hon. Chris Minns MP, the NSW Minister for Planning and Public Spaces, the Hon. Paul Scully MP, and the Members for Vaucluse and Sydney explaining:
- That Woollahra Council exceeded its housing target by 82% for the period 2016 to 2021 but was given no carry-over credit;
- That Woollahra Council has already delivered 60.8% of its net new dwelling target of 500 for 2021-2026;
- That Woollahra Council is the 7th densest municipality in NSW (77.8% of its dwellings are medium or high density compared to 46% for Greater Sydney);
- That the state government has repeatedly advised Woollahra Council that no new significant state infrastructure will be provided to support additional density in the municipality;
The resolution also said that the Government has not taken into account the strategic planning Woollahra Council has done to date to accommodate density in places where it’s most appropriate, eg Edgecliff and Double Bay, noting that residents regularly complain to Council about density pressures, eg traffic, congestion, lack of parking, inadequate public transport options, pressure on public parks and community facilities and loss of local character and heritage.