The housing industry praised the creation of a fund to
deliver infrastructure projects such as sewerage and roads in high
growth areas.
Ten projects, costing $181 million, have been earmarked
for funding by the new Housing Acceleration Fund, which has a further
$300 million for future projects. The first projects are in areas where
76,000 new homes have either been approved or are expected, including
the completion of the Camden Valley Way upgrade, to support up to 41,500
new dwellings, and an upgrade of Richmond Road, to support up to
12,000 properties. Money has also been allocated for land acquisition at
Green Square Town Centre.
The measures were welcomed by developers.
”By making a major investment in infrastructure to
support new homes, the government has also recognised that overly
burdensome infrastructure requirements upon developers mean it is simply
not feasible to proceed with a project,” the chief executive of the
Urban Development Institute of Australia NSW, Stephen Albin, said.
Additional funds have also been allocated to the
Department of Planning to fast-track the approval of state significant
projects. Thirteen million dollars has been set aside to clear the
backlog of these projects, once assessed under the controversial Part
3A of the planning act.
The Planning Minister, Brad Hazzard, said this would
allow the department to ”potentially assess twice as many projects in
the same space of time and accelerate clearance of backlogs to major
project applications”.
The Greens MP David Shoebridge said the announcement
raised fears proper process would be ignored. ”There is a real danger
that this rush to approve projects will come at the cost of rigorous
environmental assessment and community consultation,” he said.
Fifty million dollars has also been allocated to the new
Urban Activation Precincts Support Scheme, which offers financial
incentives to councils increasing housing supply in certain urban areas.
Budget papers also heralded a body, called Urbangrowth
NSW, that integrates the existing Landcom and the Sydney Metropolitan
Development Authority and will be running by the middle of next month.
Its mandate, Mr Hazzard said, would be to co-ordinate
and deliver infrastructure and service provision to development areas
and plan urban renewal projects to unlock further private sector
investment.