Pru Goward’s announcement of more high rise developments for the North Shore area has been labelled a betrayal of the Liberal government by local MPs and community figures.

Kieran Gair and Steph Nash

On June 1, state planning minister Pru Goward announced that the North Shore should “be prepared for more density”, despite earlier promises by the state government to reduce planned development for the Ku-ring-gai area.

Liberal member for Davidson, Jonathon O’Dea, and former Premier, Barry O’Farrell, pledged a limit of 10,000 new dwellings for Ku-ring-gai between 2004 and 2031, following staunch community unrest over high density housing levels. The latest figures from Ku-ring-gai Council show that over 6000 new dwellings were approved for construction between 2004 to 2013, with the council already reaching over 60 per cent of the 27-year target.

O’Dea seized on Goward’s comments, branding them “highly inappropriate”.

“For many years, planning has been a sensitive issue on the North Shore, particularly in the Ku-ring-gai Council area,” O’Dea said. “Local MPs have encouraged the local community to accept its fair share of new development while criticising the bullying tactics and insensitivity of past Labor Planning Ministers.”

Despite his shot at past Labor governments, O’Dea said Goward’s statement that “garden suburbs” like the North Shore should “be prepared for more density” is unfair.

“The reported statement of Minister Goward that ‘you can’t start exempting the North Shore’ and suggestion that the area is not accepting its fair share of new dwellings is extremely hard to justify”.

Kathy Cowley, president of community group Friends of Ku-ring-gai Environment (FOKE), says that the local community is outraged by Goward’s comments. She describes the announcement as a betrayal of the Liberal government, arguing that more high-rise developments will lead to the overdevelopment of the Ku-ring-gai environment.

“To start advocating more density around the North Shore railway stations, when an agreed increase of 10,000 swellings is already planned, is just pure overdevelopment and planning vandalism,” Cowley said. “With two threatened ecological communities and heritage conservation areas within the targeted rail zones, one wonders where this Minister thinks she is going to cram more high-rise [buildings]!”

According to a FOKE survey conducted around various local Ku-ring-gai centres, 71 per cent of respondents complained that high-rise developments negatively impacted their area. Cowley argues that urban planning decision should be made with respect to the wellbeing of local citizens and ecosystems, suggesting that FOKE will fight for housing density suitable for all members of the community.

“This is a betrayal of the promises of the Liberal government,” she said. “We are committed to returning planning decisions to local communities.”