Big changes for Mosman with new planning laws

NSW’s new Low and Mid-Rise Housing Policy is reshaping Mosman planning laws, sparking concern over heritage, density, and council planning control.

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Mosman's new planning laws policy, an amendment to State Environmental Planning Policy 2021, commenced on February 28 this year and will affect LGAs across Greater Sydney, the Central Coast, Illawarra-Shoalhaven and Hunter regions.

In a nutshell, it allows for the development of low and mid-rise housing on properties that are within a walkable 800 metres of a town centre (defined as a hub that provides goods, services, community amenities and public transport). 

Spit Junction and Cremorne are two designated town centres that will impact Mosman LGA residents. The new rules will allow for the building of low-rise (dual occupancies, terraces, townhouses and apartment blocks up to two storeys high) and mid-rise (apartment blocks from three to six storeys high).

The policy has a delivery target of 112,000 homes over the next five years statewide, and NSW Government will have full implementation controls. This means local councils, like Mosman, will not have independence in redevelopment decisions. 

Mosman Council has expressed its concerns with the state-controlled policy, stating they do not gel with already established planning. They have fears that the inherent character and heritage appeal of the area will be affected; that the unaccounted for increase in population will impact infrastructure and services; that they will not meet the environmental impact standards established under Mosman Local Environmental Plan 2012.  

Meanwhile, some canny home-owners and developers have already started capitalising on opportunities presented by the new planning policy. Real estate agents are putting together lucrative packages, encouraging adjacent homes on a desirable patch of dirt to sell their houses as a job lot. 

Billionaire investor, James Packer, is teaming up with developers, Time & Place, to build a multi-level apartment block on Redan Street. The 60 luxury apartments will include 16 affordable housing units, and sit on a hillside overlooking Balmoral Beach. Five adjacent houses have been purchased and will be bulldozed for the project. 

At The Spit end of Cowles Road, three homes are being sold together as a package and touted as a “Mosman LMR development opportunity”. 

A massive block of 12 homes, six on Rangers Rd and the six behind them on Brierley St have been earmarked for an eight-storey building featuring up to 100 apartments, again, some set aside for affordable housing. 

It’s not just houses that are being sold in bundles; three adjacent mixed-use buildings on Military Rd near Spit Junction have been sold for redevelopment into a stunning new apartment and retail block. 

Change is happening swiftly and without regard for how the sudden physical imposition of these buildings and their attendant influx of new residents will impact the neighbourhood. Even more alarming is how rapidly the district’s collection of beautifully preserved historic homes and gardens are being razed. 

Perhaps it was inevitable and even for the greater good, but it’s still a little sad. 

For more information visit:

mosman.nsw.gov.au/planning-and-development/low-mid-rise-policy