Former Blue Mountains mayor Daniel Myles has fired an early shot in this year’s council election race, accusing “pro-development” forces in the business community of pushing for higher density housing near town centres.
The current Ward 3 Liberal Party councillor said Mountains Combined Chambers and Community (MCCC) – an association of the heads of Blue Mountains chambers of commerce and village associations - has lobbied for planning changes to allow higher density housing but has “not made that agenda public”.
“With a council election due in September this year, it is vital that the public have a full appreciation of the plans of this group, which is likely to field candidates at the poll,” said Cr Myles.
MCCC president Mark Jarvis declined to comment if MCCC intends to stand candidates in the September council elections but said the group welcomed a “mature discussion” on housing needs in the Blue Mountains.
The issue of higher density housing near town centres came to the fore last year after the state government required councils to standardise their Local Environment Plans (LEPs), which prescribe development.
“The council received strong representations from the MCCC about increasing housing densities generally and those close to town centres in particular,” said Cr Myles.
NSW planning minister Rob Stokes has committed to a special zone called R6 “to maintain the look and feel of those older areas with ‘character-housing’ that are found throughout the Mountains,” he said
“MCCC opposed the R6 zone as they believe it will reduce development opportunities.”
Mr Jarvis said MCCC had “advocated for the development of town and village centre masterplans - with community consultation - for all of the 27 town and village centres in the Blue Mountains”.
He said they were critical to meet “the housing needs of all the members of our community - the elderly, single person households, young couples and families”.
“The MCCC encourage our elected councilors to consider the objectives of the Blue Mountains Community Strategic Plan Sustainable 2025 – a study that was the result of extensive community consultation - which identified the need to ‘Provide opportunities for people to live and work in town centres and a range of housing choices to meet diverse needs, including adaptable and well-designed medium density and infill development to facilitate housing affordability and ‘ageing in place’.
“The MCCC also encourage our elected councilors to familiarise themselves with studies such as Defaulting on the Australian Dream” - Towards a Housing Strategy for the Blue Mountains undertaken by Mountains Community Resource Network in October 2014. This study also identified that ‘There is a steadily rising number of singles on low incomes (often older single women or couples with no children – especially in Katoomba; single males; and the largest proportion of homeless young people 15-19 in Western Sydney) looking for suitable flat/studio/shared accommodation’.”
He described the state government as undecided as to whether the R6 Character Housing Zone “is the most appropriate planning mechanism to preserve and enhance the residential character of the villages of Blue Mountains”.
But Cr Myles said he believed council has the correct housing balance in the Blue Mountains.
“I support urban renewal of older housing stock but I believe that the Mountains population of some 80,000 people is about as much as we should have.
“MCCC believe otherwise and it will be up to the people to choose the future of our area.”
