NSW govt will ‘take’ councils’ planning powers away if no housing built: Chris Minns

New South Wales Premier Chris Minns has threatened to “take planning powers” from councils to ensure the state gets density around public transport infrastructure if they can’t get “genuine progress” towards housing. In January, Minns said the state will not meet its housing target of 75,000 new homes in 2024, which is part of a broader plan to build 1.2 million new homes across Australia over the next five years. “Unless we can get genuine progress towards housing, in particular zones, particularly around public transport, then the government will go ahead, take those planning powers over, and ensure we get density around public transport infrastructure,” Mr Minns told Sky News Australia. “During the period between when the national agreement was signed and a couple of weeks ago, the number of councils that came to the state government and said, here’s our plan for density in our community was one – one out of 130. “We’re getting some genuine all of sudden because the Minister for Planning, Paul Scully’s, come to the table and said unless you move, we’re going to take over, and I think that’s the right call given the crisis we’re facing.”