Rejection of developer levy "highly unusual" says Randwick Mayor

Randwick Mayor Lindsay Shurey has described as “highly unusual” the NSW Department of Planning’s refusal of Randwick Council’s $40M developer levy for its Kensington to Kingsford (K2K) Planning Strategy.

The Community Infrastructure Charge – which is already delivering benefits in neighbouring Council areas like City of Sydney – is proposed to deliver significant public improvements in the town centres including new green links, street trees, cycleways and the fitout of a new multipurpose community centre, exhibition space and innovation centre.

Following pressure from The Southern Courier the Department of Planning says this type of community infrastructure is not related to the demand created by the development.

“How anybody can think it’s ok to shove thousands of new apartments into towers up to 18 storeys high without delivering public benefit beggars belief.

“If developers are going to make tens of millions of dollars in profit from an uplift in heights, then it’s only fair and reasonable that they contribute some of those profits to provide better public infrastructure for the people who are going to live there.

“There’s no point providing housing without quality public amenity. It’s unfair for those future residents. Developers will walk away with a tidy profit while residents live out their lives in concrete jungles.

“Why the Department of Planning is so concerned about developers paying a bit extra has really got me perplexed,” Mayor Shurey said.

Randwick Council is seeking a review of the Department’s determination of its planning strategy by the Planning Assessment Commission.


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This consultation is closed. On 10 December 2019, Council endorsed the Planning Proposal for the Kensington and Kingsford Town Centres and resolved to forward the proposal to the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE) requesting amendments be made to Randwick LEP.  The Planning Proposal is currently with the State Government awaiting gazettal of the proposed changes to the RLEP 2012. The Planning Proposal can be viewed here.

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