Blue Mountains City Council is calling on the NSW Government to exempt the entire Blue Mountains Local Government Area from its Housing Delivery Authority and State Significant Development pathways for residential accommodation due to the local exceptional bushfire risk.
The call follows serious questions from the Council about how a proposed $95 million high-density residential development at Narrow Neck Road, Katoomba, was fast-tracked despite the site being mapped as bushfire-prone land.
Mayor, Mark Greenhill said bushfire risk must be treated as a fundamental planning constraint, not an administrative obstacle to be removed or overlooked.
“The Blue Mountains has an extreme and well-documented exposure to bushfire,” Mayor Greenhill said.
“Our towns are surrounded by the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area, with limited evacuation routes and communities that have experienced the devastating consequences of major bushfires.
“These risks require greater scrutiny of residential development, not a fast-tracked process that restricts public participation and removes important safeguards.”
The NSW Government previously excluded the Blue Mountains from its low- and mid-rise housing reforms because of strategic concerns about local bushfire conditions. The Council is seeking an equivalent exemption from the Housing Delivery Authority and State Significant Development pathways.
“If the bushfire risk is serious enough to exempt the Blue Mountains from one statewide housing policy, it must also be serious enough to exempt us from a pathway designed to accelerate large residential developments,” Mayor Greenhill said.
“The same risk cannot be recognised in one planning process and effectively disregarded in another. That inconsistency must be resolved in favour of community safety.”
At the time, the Housing Delivery Authority recommended the Narrow Neck proposal for declaration as State Significant Development, its criteria excluded development on bushfire-prone land.
“The proposal did not comply with the Housing Delivery Authority’s bushfire exclusion criterion when the recommendation was made,” the Mayor said.
“Council, the community and the media have repeatedly asked how a high-density residential proposal on bushfire-prone land could have been recommended and declared State Significant Development.”
He said the NSW Rural Fire Service has stated that changes to the Blue Mountains bushfire-prone land map were unrelated to the development proposal.
The Council says it is also concerned that statutory safeguards normally associated with State Significant Development do not apply to the Narrow Neck proposal. These include merit appeal rights for objectors, including councils, and provisions enabling a public hearing where significant numbers of objections are received.
The Productivity Commission’s interim report on housing supply, released on Monday, says fast-tracked development pathways should have clear, transparent criteria and involve councils early to avoid designs becoming locked in.
This has not occurred through the Housing Delivery Authority process, said Mayor Greenhill. He says the criteria have been unclear, Council was not given adequate reasons for decisions, and it was only able to comment after the proposal had been declared state significant and key design decisions had already been made.
The Narrow Neck proposal attracted 767 submissions, including 738 objections, but the Minister did not exercise his discretion to require a public hearing.
“The Blue Mountains is a World Heritage City, not another suburb of Sydney, and our community rightly expects a meaningful role in planning its future,” Mayor Greenhill said.
“This is not an argument against housing. It is an argument for responsible planning that recognises bushfire risk, protects life and gives the community a genuine voice.
“Council is asking for the Blue Mountains to be exempt from these fast-tracked pathways before another major residential proposal is advanced without the scrutiny our unique and high-risk environment demands.”
