Council's response to NSW Government housing policy

Since late 2023, the NSW Government has introduced several major changes to the planning system. These include new policies on Transport Oriented Development (TOD), low and mid-rise housing and the creation of the Housing Delivery Authority (HDA).

Council has undertaken extensive work to ensure these reforms deliver the state government’s targets for new housing, while protecting Ku-ring-gai’s heritage, environment and tree canopy and maintaining high-quality local centres.

Council’s approach

Council’s response has focused on three key areas:

1. Technical analysis and preparation of alternative planning outcomes

Council prepared detailed mapping, constraints analysis, feasibility testing, and scenario development to understand the impacts of the State’s original TOD policy. This work then guided the Council’s alternative response to the TOD.

The key advantages of the Council’s TOD alternative plan, which was approved by the state government in November 2025, are that it:

  • Protects 80% of heritage conservation areas
  • Avoids environmentally sensitive and high-canopy lands
  • Provides appropriate height and density near centres
  • Delivers the dwelling capacity required by the NSW Government
  • Supports revitalisation of Gordon, Killara, Lindfield and Roseville centres

2. Collaboration with the State Government

Throughout 2024–2025, Council worked with the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure (DPHI) to ensure Ku-ring-gai’s unique heritage, landscape setting and local character were considered in the final policy outcome.

On 14 November 2025, the NSW Government formally adopted Council’s proposed TOD Alternative plan. This led to Council discontinuing its legal challenge in the Land and Environment Court, with both parties bearing their own costs.

3. Community engagement

Over 12 months of consultation supported the development of the Council’s TOD alternative plan, including:

  • Community surveys
  • Recruited workshops
  • Online forums
  • Written submissions
  • Presentations and briefings with local groups and stakeholders

Feedback helped shape the final preferred scenario and confirmed community support for protecting heritage and the natural environment while concentrating new development in appropriate locations.

Low and mid-rise Housing Policy

In February 2025, the NSW Government’s Low and Mid-Rise Housing (LMR) policy came into effect, allowing townhouses, terraces and small apartment buildings in certain residential zones close to public transport and centres.

As part of negotiations on Ku-ring-gai’s TOD Alternative plan, Council raised concerns about overlap between the TOD precincts and the LMR areas, and the risk of overdevelopment and poor transitions. Following this work, the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure excluded the mapped LMR areas from Ku-ring-gai’s TOD precincts.

This means that in Ku-ring-gai:

  • The TOD Alternative controls apply within the adopted TOD boundary, and
  • The LMR provisions apply only outside that TOD boundary in eligible residential zones.

Council will continue to monitor the rollout of the LMR policy and advocate for further refinements where necessary to protect heritage, landscape and neighbourhood character.

Next steps

Council will continue to:

  • Amend Ku-ring-gai Development Control Plan (DCP) to enable implementation of the adopted TOD Alternative plan
  • Progress infrastructure planning, including open space, transport and affordable housing contributions
  • Keep the community updated as these projects progress.

Related pages

Transport Oriented Development (TOD) Ku-ring-gai

NSW Government low and mid-rise housing policy Ku-ring-gai

Housing Delivery Authority (HDA) Ku-ring-gai

Back to top