The recently released NSW Department of Planning Housing Monitor data shows that housing approvals in Ryde Municipality have fallen by 56 percent, says the Urban Taskforce.
“The Greater Sydney Commission (GSC) recently issued increased housing numbers for Ryde Municipality for the next 5 years supposedly based on recent approvals, but the more recent issue of the NSW Department of Planning’s Housing Monitor for Greater Sydney shows that housing approvals in Ryde are collapsing fast” says Urban Taskforce CEO Chris Johnson. “This brings into question the reliability of the data used by the GSC to justify stopping planning proposals in Ryde.”
“At the peak of the housing market in April 2016 the Housing Monitor shows that 4,040 new dwellings were approved year to date. The recently released Housing Monitor for March 2019 indicates that approvals have now collapsed to 1,769 year to date, which is a reduction of 56 percent.”
“Clearly the campaigns by the Local Member for Ryde, Victor Dominello, and the Labor candidate, Jerome Laxale, to fight new development have had an impact on housing approvals in the municipality, and it now looks like there will be a big reduction in future housing production. Already since October 2018 there has been a 27 percent reduction in housing approvals by March 2019, and all indications are that the fall will continue as the housing industry has now little confidence in getting support for new projects in Ryde.”
“The Urban Taskforce has been very concerned that the data from the Housing Monitor seems to have been influenced by the state election. For the first time in years the Planning Department stopped publishing this important data for a six month period. The data stopped being published in October 2018 and was only re-activated in June 2019.”
“The Urban Taskforce is also concerned that the Greater Sydney Commission Assurance Report for Ryde recommended disallowing planning proposals that included Voluntary Planning Agreements (VPAs) to fund local infrastructure. The main concern expressed by the politicians in the lead up to the state election to stop development was that infrastructure needed to catch up. The real value of VPAs is that significant funds are generated for local infrastructure rather than relying only on the NSW Government to fund the infrastructure.”
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