CBCity opposes new housing code

​The City of Canterbury Bankstown has reaffirmed its calls for the scrapping of the NSW Government’s controversial new Medium Density Housing Code.

Council has been granted permission by the Department of Planning, to publicly exhibit a Planning Proposal, aimed at prohibiting what the Government intends to do under its new Code, which is to allow adhoc dual occupancies, villas, townhouses and terraces, as well as manor houses (blocks of four units), to be constructed in low density residential areas.

Mayor Khal Asfour said the Government’s Code is disastrous and would have dire impacts on neighbourhoods throughout NSW, including Canterbury-Bankstown, if introduced.

"It would allow for inappropriate development to be carried out under a fast-track complying development process, with approvals by private certifiers, not councils," he said.

"The first thing residents would know anything is when construction began in their street and that’s unacceptable."

Last May, Council was granted an initial 12–month deferment, so it could fully review the Code’s potential impacts on Canterbury-Bankstown. It found the code would:

Introduce more than 30,000 new, unplanned houses; Bring in an extra 87,000 residents; Increase the size and bulk of dual occupancy dwellings by more than 70 percent; See open space on individual blocks slashed to just 16 square metres; Halve requirements for parking, where homes are allocated only a single-off street car parking space; and See duplexes springing up everywhere.

The Planning Proposal will go on public exhibition in March. Once community feedback is considered, Council will vote on the changes, before the document returns to the Department of Planning for final approval.

Mayor Asfour said he will also be writing to households, in areas which would be impacted by the Government’s Code, to make sure they are well informed.

"I urge residents to write to their local MP and the Minister. Now is the time to stand-up and tell the Government what it’s trying to do is not okay and won’t be tolerated," he said.

To make a submission on the Planning Proposal, or for more information, visit cb.city/haveyoursay