Action for Public Transport (N.S.W.) Inc. |
P O Box K606 |
Haymarket NSW 1240 |
28 February 2022 |
Action for Public Transport (NSW) Inc. ("APTNSW") is a transport advocacy group which has been active in Sydney since 1974. We promote the interests of beneficiaries of public transport - passengers and the wider community alike.
REZONINGS
This submission is largely based on the information in the discussion paper A new approach to rezonings, dated December 2021.
SUBMISSION
We submit that planning as practised in NSW is not something that can be sped-up to an extent where details are overlooked. Many things need to be and are considered in preparing LEPs, including roads, public transport, shopping facilities, health facilities, power supply, water supply, schools ...
The present proposals seek to bypass all that work, typically on the request of a developer who has an obvious interest in getting a development site upzoned. The effect on the whole LEP of rezoning a small part of it, perhaps a hectare or so, may be limited. However, the upzoning might then be taken as a precedent for other properties nearby leading to further rezonings happening. Soon the assumptions underlying the LEP won't apply. When that happens, there is likely to be excessive demand for one or more resources, destroying precisely what planning seeks to achieve.
CONCLUSION
For the reasons above, we would object to the proposed changes.