242-244 Beecroft Road, Epping - Amending Concept SSD and Amending Detailed Design SSD

1931

City of Parramatta Council

New South Wales 2150

23/07/2025

Object

Website

Please find attached Council's submission

City of Parramatta Council Submission Beecroft Rd Epping - IPC Redacted.pdf (PDF, 403.54 KB)

1836

Redacted

10/07/2025

Support

Website

I strongly support this proposal. The reasons as to why are the following * It offers more affordable housing than the prior proposal * It offers more affordable & normal housing close to good public transport, jobs, and where people wish to live * It provides additional commercial space * It doesn't make use of gas & is a 5 star green star design rating The assessment report summarises and provides an explanation as to why the parking rate which is above the Parramatta DCP 2023 rate for the location is permitted. It is likely a matter for the state government and not a consideration in this case to determine the specifics of what the more “onerous standard” is here - “It restricts a consent authority from applying a more onerous standard, which could include a car parking requirement that departs from what is established in the Housing SEPP. Given the proposal complies with the NDDS car parking requirements outlined in the recently released Housing SEPP, the Department is satisfied that the proposal is acceptable.” Although, I personally do believe that the intent of the government was to be aligned with the advice found on page 14 of the In-fill affordable housing Practice note (December 2023[0], which contains “If another planning instrument contains a more permissive standard, or the consent authority is of the opinion that a lower parking rate is justified on merit, it is not intended that a written variation request pursuant to clause 4.6 should be required for the nondiscretionary parking standard under the Housing SEPP.” As per my submission to the SSD I will note that the provision of parking comes at a cost. As per the Committee of Sydney Better parking for better places document (page 7 of https://sydney.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Committee-for-Sydney-Better-Parking-for-Better-Places-August-2022.pdf) car spaces cost between $50,000 and $250,000 to build. Additionally as per Abundant Housing Network Australia submission on National Urban Policy - https://abundanthousing.org.au/docs/2407-NUP.pdf "Under many Australian planning schemes one- and two-bedroom departments require one car park each, whereas three-bedroom apartments require two car parks—meaning that family-sized apartments are an estimated $112,000 more expensive due to parking minimums, which are applied regardless of whether the family owns even one car. This unnecessary cost is being borne by families all across all of Australia, with RMIT researchers estimating in 2018 that up to 40% of inner-city residential parking spaces are empty" [0] https://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-12/in-fill-affordable-housing-practice-note.pdf