NEWCASTLE Liberal council candidates will review the city's Development Control Plan to address a "lack of parking", accelerate housing development and axe Labor's "gas ban" if they are elected in September.
Ward Four Liberal Cr Callum Pull said that under Labor, the council's development controls had exacerbated the city's housing problems.
"The Labor party has overseen the roll out of more red and green tape, which is strangling development and choking new housing supply," he said.
"To deliver the housing that this city needs, we have to make Newcastle the most appealing place to invest and build new housing."
City of Newcastle undertook a comprehensive review of its Development Control Plan (DCP) in 2023, it was adopted in December and came into effect March 1 this year.
Liberal councillors Jenny Barrie, Katrina Wark and Cr Pull voted against the DCP at the December council meeting.
Newcastle Labor councillors have said they are committed to a healthier and more liveable city, tackling the cost of living with more accessible, affordable homes and less urban sprawl.
Ward Four Labor Cr Elizabeth Adamczyk said "the city's Labor leadership" had ensured more houses were being built faster and more efficiently.
"In fact, the city's approach is award-winning, with processing times for development assessment in the city falling to a record low by an extraordinary 30 per cent in the last two years, below the NSW average and many applications being approved in just seven days," she said.
"Other NSW councils are now seeking to adopt this program to build more homes, more quickly, in their own local areas."
Cr Pull said Labor and the Greens had imposed a new tax on housing, opposed "sensible new development" and imposed "more red tape" increasing the time and cost to build new homes.
The new 'tax' he refers to is the affordable housing levy scheme, which would see developers make a contribution on larger projects that would be pooled to fund affordable housing through an approved provider.
"The Labor and Greens council has made Newcastle the most unaffordable city in Australia outside of Sydney," he said.
"This DCP review will be expressly undertaken to remove the unnecessary and restrictive regulations imposed on housing, address the lack of parking across the city, and repeal Labor's ban on gas appliances."
As part of the DCP, residential developments require a statement of compliance to confirm that the development only uses electricity for all internal household energy needs.
Cr Adamczyk said the city's planning controls to wire new homes with EV capacity, power them with electricity and avoid new gas connections where possible are supported by peak industry bodies and the community.
"New gas connections are not only more expensive to install, and run, they are linked to a higher incidence of chronic diseases and respiratory illnesses like childhood asthma," she said.
Ward Two Liberal Cr Barrie said parking is a big issue for residents and businesses across Newcastle.
"Whether you're a business owner or a resident in a narrow street, everybody in Newcastle is feeling the parking pinch," she said.
"Labor have only made our city's parking problem worse, they knocked down the King Street car park and have gone out of their way to cap the number of parks for new homes and apartment blocks.
"This reduces the private parks available to residents, forcing more cars out onto the streets."
Cr Barrie said a lack of car parks makes access to businesses difficult.
"A decade of Labor has made the parking situation in our city drastically worse," she said.
New developments in the city's denser areas have to prove they will provide enough parking to not have a significant impact on surrounding on-street parking.
The clause was included as part of changes City of Newcastle has introduced to its DCP around traffic and car parking.
Cr Adamczyk said parking controls for new developments mandate on-street parking capacity to guarantee new developments don't adversely impact neighbours or visitors.
"Thousands of new public and private car parking spaces have been delivered under the city's approach to parking, which, in line with the City Parking Plan, is developed with local businesses, community and stakeholders," she said.
Ward Three Liberal candidate Matt Bailey said that elected Liberal councillors would reverse the "gas ban" imposed by Labor and the Greens last year, restoring choice for locals.
"Our community is struggling with Labor's cost of living crisis, with sky high electricity bills adding to the current heavy load," he said.
"Many households prefer gas because of its cost effectiveness and efficacy, and many businesses need gas to meet their needs.
"We want to enable Novocastrians to choose the appliances that best suit their needs."
Cr Adamczyk said Labor councillors have a proven track record of working with the community to meet their needs for healthier, lower cost living in the city.
"Labor councillors have led progressive change, with council and community, to resolve in this term to increase social housing in our city and strengthen rights and protections for renters to make a real difference during the current cost of living crisis," she said.
"In this term, Liberal councillors have consistently opposed measures to increase the supply, affordability and health of new homes.
"It's disappointing that Liberal councillors have started their election campaign with false claims and misleading policies."
Local government elections will be held Saturday, September 14.
