Campbelltown Council has been forced to scrap limits it imposed in 2015 on the total number of homes that can be built in Airds, Claymore and Macarthur Heights.
There’s a risk that if the cap is not lifted it will be illegal for land owners in those three areas to erect homes on their lots once the maximum number is reached.
Currently there’s a cap of 2,104 dwellings for Airds/Bradbury, 1,490 for Claymore and 850 for the Macarthur Heights estate.
The unprecedented conundrum has arisen because the State Government brought in a new social housing policy after 2015 which resulted in the construction of a lot more dwellings than was anticipated by council at the time.
Councillors will vote on a recommendation that the caps be removed at the next council meeting, on Tuesday, October 9.
There is no change in zoning of land proposed.
A report to council for the meeting says the cap was put in place to ensure a balance between the number of residents and the infrastructure provided in those three estates.
Claymore and Airds/Bradbury are existing residential areas built as public housing in the 1970s and are now being redeveloped for a mix of public and private housing.
“The removal of the restriction on the maximum number of dwellings will permit the continued construction of dwellings that is currently being undertaken in each of these areas and is not considered likely to lead to any significant adverse infrastructure impacts,’’ says the report.
“The proposed removal of the dwelling cap on the Macarthur Heights residential estate would potentially result in an increase in the overall number of dwellings within the precinct, primarily as a result of secondary dwellings being proposed under the NSW Government’s Affordable Housing State Environmental Planning Policy (SEPP).
“The original restriction on the number of dwellings of 850 under the Campbelltown LEP 2015 was primarily introduced to minimise traffic impacts on the surrounding road intersections,’’ the report says.
“A traffic review revealed that despite the potential increase of some 400 dwellings over the originally assumed amount, there has been an increase in the capacity of Narellan Road and Gilchrist Drive since their upgrades and the future delivery of Spring Farm Parkway which will assist in long term road infrastructure capacity for the additional housing.
“It is considered the removal of the cap is therefore not likely to result in a significant adverse impact on the current level of service of the local road network.’’
Campbelltown Local Planning Panel has approved the plan to remove the dwellings cap for the three areas.
“The changes to the State Environmental Planning Policies are outside the control of Council but have resulted in changes to the nature of development in the Macarthur Heights Residential Precinct,’’ says the report to council.
“It is important to amend the Local Environmental Plan to remove the cap before there are unreasonable consequences for land owners in later stages of the development.’’
Not happy