“Paltry” planning requirements for affordable housing across Sydney pale in comparison with cities such as London, say planners who believe the state government must intervene to disrupt the status quo of councils frequently rejecting development proposals.
Efforts to boost affordable housing should be focused in suburbs surrounding Sydney’s metro and train stations, the managing director of prominent architecture firm Bates Smart, Philip Vivian, said. However a “planning vacuum” along these corridors is effectively giving developers “windfall gains” with no requirement to build the types of homes the city needs.
