Support Disallowance Bill – FOKE – Friends of Kuringai Environment

Please write letters to the Upper House Crossbench calling on them to SUPPORT The Hon. Scott Farlow, MLC & Shadow Minister for Planning’s DISALLOWANCE BILL opposing the Transport Oriented Development (TOD) program across Greater Sydney, including in Ku-ring-gai.

Deadline: FRIDAY 2nd AUGUST 2024 (in readiness for Legislative Council sitting dates from 6-8 August or 13-15 August 2024.

Your letters can make a real difference to stopping Ku-ring-gai being degraded.

Email to NSW Upper House Crossbench:

Template letter

[Please modify and use your own words as this makes a difference]

Dear Upper House Crossbench

I am deeply concerned that the NSW Government’s one size all Transport Oriented Development SEPP is a failed public planning policy that contravenes the Objectives of the NSW Environmental Planning & Assessment Act 1979.

I seek your support.

Please vote in SUPPORT of the Transport Oriented Development (TOD) DISALLOWANCE Bill 2024.

NSW needs to get its planning right for current and future generations.

In its current form the TOD will wipe out local planning controls to protect heritage and environmental values, so critical for a liveable city.

The TOD, in its current form, must be disallowed because it:

is a blunt one size fits all planning instrument
is poor planning
is undemocratic
removes local government’s planning powers
lacks community consultation
removes local government’s powers
destroys heritage
destroys trees + wildlife habitats
provides no infrastructure for the TOD Tier 2s planned across Greater Sydney
will increase Sydney’s traffic gridlock
will not provide affordable housing

Thank you for your support.

Yours sincerely,

[Name & contact details]

NSW Upper House Crossbench:

Name	Party	Email
Members of the Upper House CROSSBENCH
Mark Banasiak	Shooters, Fishers & Farmers Party	mark.banasiak@parliament.nsw.gov.au
Robert Borsak	Shooters, Fishers & Farmers Party	robert.borsak@parliament.nsw.gov.au
Abigail Boyd	The Greens	abigail.boyd@parliament.nsw.gov.au
Jeremy Buckingham	Legalise Cannabis Party	jeremy.buckingham@parliament.nsw.gov.au
Amanda Cohn	The Greens	amanda.cohn@parliament.nsw.gov.au
Cate Faehrmann	The Greens	Cate.Faehrmann@parliament.nsw.gov.au
Sue Higginson	The Greens	sue.higginson@parliament.nsw.gov.au
Emma Hurst	Animal Justice Party	emma.hurst@parliament.nsw.gov.au
Mark Latham	Independent	mark.latham@parliament.nsw.gov.au
Rod Roberts	Independent	rod.roberts@parliament.nsw.gov.au
Taylor Martin	Independent	taylor.martin@parliament.nsw.gov.au
Tania Mihailuk	Pauline Hanson’s One Nation	Office.Mihailuk@parliament.nsw.gov.au
Rod Roberts	Independent	rod.roberts@parliament.nsw.gov.au
John Ruddick	Libertarian Party	john.ruddick@parliament.nsw.gov.au

For more information visit:

TOD Disallowance Bill HERE
Hansard 20 June 2024 HERE
Hansard 5 June 2024 HERE
NSW’s housing policy and Ku-ring-gai Council’s response HERE

Why the TOD is simply bad planning

The Transport Oriented Development State Environmental Planning Proposal (TOD) was enacted without the required community consultation, as specified in section c3.30 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act. This section mandates community consultation following the publication of an explanation of the intended effect of the planning proposal.

The TOD was first announced in December 2023, just before the Christmas break, with no opportunity for community consultation before its planned implementation in April 2024. The limited and targeted consultation period consisted solely of “Council briefings” in early 2024. Reports from various councils indicated that these briefings provided no additional detail beyond what was published on the NSW Planning website in December 2024.

The TODs will override democratically elected Councils. The TODs will override local strategic planning and gazetted Local Environment Plans (LEP) & Development Control Plans. The TODs will override the Environmental Planning & Assessment Act requirement for community consultation, proper planning process and procedure. This is effectively bypassing the Gateway process for orderly changes to LEPs.

It is evident from informed sources that this TOD will not immediately impact the housing crisis as it will not significantly increase development due to constraints in the construction industry, financing costs, and the availability of skilled labour. Additionally, it will not deliver affordable housing at scale.

The Master Builders Association advises that the reforms targeting more housing will only be effective if productivity issues within the industry are addressed, which the TOD planning proposal does not do. Additionally, the Reserve Bank of Australia forecasts a downturn in the construction industry due to the current economic cycle that will last for years regardless of planning amendments.

The TOD planning proposal’s one-size-fits-all approach will have long-lasting detrimental impacts on local amenities because the simplistic circles on a map fail to consider local conditions such as:

· Affordability

· Social Housing shortfall

· Geographical constraints

· Current infrastructure capacity to support higher density

· Traffic impacts

· Bushfire and Flood-prone areas

· Heritage

· Protection of threatened fauna & flora species

· Other hazards (land slip, infrastructure safety zones, subsidence etc)

Local councils have been pressured to rapidly implement these controls in their Local Environment Plans (LEP), which goes against proper and orderly planning. This rush, without the opportunity for meaningful community consultation, is contrary to the usual council-led planning process where community feedback is sought and required on any planned changes to LEPs.