Labor councillors have narrowly pushed through a controversial rezoning plan that will deliver more than 30,000 high-density apartments across Sydney’s inner west over the next 15 years.
The Our Fairer Future Plan passed 8–7 at an unruly Extraordinary Council meeting on Tuesday night, with all Labor councillors in favour and the rest opposed.
The decision sparked loud reactions from the packed gallery, with “Sydney YIMBY” supporters applauding and opponents shouting “Shame!”
The plan was scaled back after community backlash, cutting 5,000 apartments in Marrickville, Dulwich Hill and Ashfield, but adding 8,000 homes along the Parramatta Road corridor in partnership with the NSW government.
It also introduces a 1 per cent affordable housing levy on non-residential developments and redevelops five council-owned car parks for 350 social housing units.
Greens councillor Izabella Antoniou urged the council to delay the vote, saying the community needed more time to consider the proposal.
“More needs to be done to make sure we are actually delivering for current and future residents in a way that rebuilds trust that we have unfortunately broken,” she said.
Mayor Darcy Byrne defended the move, calling housing inequality in the inner west “obscene” and warning, “If you don’t act now to increase the supply of housing, then the already obscene level of inequity in our local community will get worse.”
With the plan passed, the council expects $520 million in development contributions to fund new infrastructure, parks and transport links. But residents’ groups vowed to continue fighting the scheme, while pro-housing advocates welcomed the vote as a step towards tackling Sydney’s housing shortage.
Source: ABC.
