Inner West Labor Councillors have disregarded expert advice and delivered a disappointing blow to our local community, siding with the developer friendly state Labor Government at last night’s council meeting.
Labor Councillors – some of whom work for Ministers in the NSW Government – voted down expert staff recommendations outlining the impact these proposals will have on our community. Instead, they passed a motion in support of the core principles of the government’s rezoning plan.
If adopted, the government’s reforms will allow for wholesale rezoning of residential areas, with 75% of the Inner West LGA set to be impacted.
Planning experts have warned that the Labor Government’s proposals would override local planning controls including heritage protections. It would interfere with local affordable housing targets and will further threaten our tree canopy targets. Ultimately, it would remove council’s right of refusal on many new developments – effectively silencing community voices.
Disappointingly, Labor went further still – seeking to give developers another pathway to bypass council processes and further limit opportunities for community consultation.
Kobi Shetty MP says:
“It was incredibly disappointing to see Inner West Labor Councillors ignore community concerns and instead choose to prioritise developer profit under what is a fundamentally unsustainable, poorly planned rezoning proposal.
“Ultimately, Labor Councillors seem happy to ignore the community and ignore good planning principles if it means keeping their bosses on Macquarie Street happy. It’s not good enough and our community deserves better.
“We urgently need action on the housing crisis, but the wholesale rezoning proposal put on the table by NSW Labor and endorsed by their colleagues here in the Inner West will not achieve that.
“The proposal does not include affordable housing targets, or requirements for the provision of more public housing. In the case of places like City of Sydney, it could actually undermine their affordable housing targets. There’s no plan to provide the infrastructure needed to support increased density either.
