2020-04-30
Greens spokesperson for planning, Jamie Parker MP, has issued a challenge to the Minister for Planning saying that post-COVID-19, the NSW Government should invest in communities instead of fast-tracking projects that serve developers.
“I’m calling for the NSW Government to step up after this pandemic and clear the $3.5bn local infrastructure backlog[1] which they say is required to bring local facilities across the state up to date..
“It is parks and playgrounds that have saved our sanity during this crisis. The government needs to invest in improving the basics like parks, swimming pools, libraries, cycleways, walking tracks, arts precincts and green corridors.
“Instead of swallowing the developer’s line and fast-tracking planning assessment with limited community consultation, my challenge to the Minister for Planning is to back projects that will insulate us in future crises and keep on benefiting local communities for years to come.
“It is no time to be doing favours for property developers who seem to think this crisis is an opportunity to cash in on projects with little to no merit.
“Frankly we are tired of the property industry coming out with the claim that more of the same development should be approved more quickly.
“If we are all in this together, the Minister for Planning should focus on funding infrastructure development to boost our local economies, and ease the burden on local communities, not boost the profits of the government’s developer mates,” he said.
[1] NSW OLG estimated cost (2017-18) to bring assets to a satisfactory standard https://yourcouncil.nsw.gov.au/nsw-overview/assets/