Responding to today’s announcement by NSW Premier Chris Minns which ties $200 million in funding to councils based on meeting and exceeding new housing targets, Wollondilly Mayor Matt Gould has reaffirmed Council’s position that infrastructure must come before development.

Wollondilly is already going above and beyond to support the NSW Government in its push to address the housing crisis. We’re one of the fastest councils in Greater Sydney and NSW for determining Development Applications and one of very few councils that has been meeting, and well and truly exceeding, the current housing targets.

The new five-year housing target announced for Wollondilly today is 5,500, with the NSW Government target set on the basis that around 90% of this is already in the system to be delivered.

Mayor Gould said, “Building thriving communities relies on an effective partnership between local, state and federal government.”

“I’m pleased the NSW Government has responded to our calls for housing to be focussed on our growth areas and other existing areas of Sydney.”

“Wollondilly can continue to deliver on our promises and play our part in addressing the housing crisis by providing homes in our growth area at Wilton, but we will only be able to do this if our area gets the right funding and infrastructure from developers and the State Government now.”

“Over the past decade Wollondilly has done more than its fair share of heavy lifting on housing supply. We are one of very few councils that exceeded our five-year housing target of 1,550 dwellings between 2016 and 2021.”

“We have put systems and processes in place to accelerate the assessment timeframes for Development Applications and we continue to be one of the fastest Councils in Greater Sydney and NSW for determining DAs, even while having some of the largest DA numbers for housing. We averaged 60 days in 2023/24 and 78 days in 2022/23, compared to an average of 148 days in 2023/24 and 136 days in 2022/23 for Greater Sydney.”

“I have been clear in my calls to Government over the past couple of years - there might be a housing crisis, but in the Wollondilly Shire we have an infrastructure crisis. We have land zoned to deliver over 12,000 new homes in Wilton and the State has zoned another 12,000 in Greater Macarthur, without a plan for infrastructure.”

“In light of today’s announcement, Wollondilly remains firm on its commitment to the community and to the State of NSW. We have a strong 30-year land use vision for our Shire and we plan to deliver much needed housing at Wilton, but we need developers, Sydney Water, Transport for NSW and other government infrastructure agencies to come to the table with resources and infrastructure to support the housing supply.”

“In Wollondilly, the lack of investment by Sydney Water and other state agencies is going to bring housing to a grinding halt, unless the state government invests time and money in the areas where it has already committed to supply housing, especially in Wilton.”

“By 2027, Sydney Water will no longer be able to service 75 per cent of the expected new houses in Wilton through its wastewater capacity cap, and this will blow out by thousands more homes by 2032. History is likely to repeat itself in Appin, if the proposal continues down the same path and we do not have a binding infrastructure agreement in place.”

As part of today’s announcement, Premier Chris Minns has moved to try and rebalance housing targets across Sydney, by increasing housing density in established suburbs closer to the CBD. 82 per cent of the reworked target will come from “infill,” where infrastructure is already in place, compared to 18 per cent which will come from greenfield developments.

Western LGAs of Camden, Campbelltown, Fairfield, Hawkesbury, Liverpool, Penrith, and Wollondilly will take 22 per cent of the total target of 59,100 new homes.