The Development Applications (DAs) that people often react to are the final step in the planning process. Key decisions about what can be built are made much earlier and are often missed. Two pre-DA opportunities to comment are currently underway.
Sydney Council has started a consultation about where growth in its area will go. A Housing for All discussion paper is open for feedback until 19 June 2026. Council says it has sufficient planned development to meet the current NSW Government targets but that it needs to plan for future growth so Council, not the NSW Government, proposes where growth happens. Changes to the planning controls to deliver more density in certain areas happen at the end of a five-year process.
The first section of Council’s paper has ten ideas for where more housing could be delivered in areas where it has responsibility. The second section comprises 15 suggestions on NSW Government sites that are already zoned for development and 17 sites that the Government had previously considered for delivering more housing. Finally, the study looks at issues around delivering the diverse housing needed in the city.
If you have an interest in housing then have a look at this consultation and put your feedback and suggestions in.
The other opportunity for input is the imminent exhibition of the Waterloo South Concept DA. The total floorspace for this site was set in 2022. In pre-lodgement consultation, the developer, Stockland, discussed the need to change how that floorspace is distributed, changing heights and creating more ground level space, as well as showing where different sorts of housing go. This exhibition will change the planning controls that Stockland will then build within.
The formal exhibition includes unseen technical studies and a reference scheme to show the controls can accommodate the floorspace with good amenity. This is not what might be built. After the Concept Plan exhibition, Stockland will start a conversation with the community about the design of buildings in Stage 1, which will then be exhibited as DAs.
So, don’t wait for the DAs to raise your concerns. Get in early.
Geoff Turnbull is the Spokesperson for REDWatch
