Child Care Centres are a necessity of life BUT NOT in R2 Low Density Residential Zones. The State Environmental Planning Policy (Educational Establishments and Child Care Facilities) 2017 has railroaded the rights of residents and Councils into the abyss.

My story is a simple one, but a story of a development coming next door to you!  

When I wanted to build my home, the Council refused to allow me to excavate. I could not have a basement garage under my dwelling. In fact, I was not permitted to remove ANY material from the site in the form of soil or rock. Even the sandstone spoil from the storm-water absorption pit was dispersed within the lot. The only excavation permitted was the process known as cut and fill.  This was not a satisfactory outcome for my design so I was forced to introduce fill. But rules are rules and we must abide by them.

Later, a town-house development adjacent to my home had to comply with the rules as well. Those rules stated that the development had to have a streetscape which complied with the applicable Residential Zone. That is, the development had to look like a single level house from the street and any additional two level buildings had to be constructed at the rear of the lot where the fall of the land obscured their bulk and size. That is why developments mandated a combination of villas and town-houses at the time.

In addition, to maintain this low density residential landscape the dwellings had to be offset on the site so as the driveway access did not present as a road up the middle so to speak. These controls are still the rule. They were and still are sensible controls to maintain the ‘Garden Shire’ appeal and resident satisfaction.

Slowly the rights of the resident are being eroded away and the days of structures reaching a ‘Heritage Status’ are forever lost. Every single approved development application has a small developer win over the resident, because the developer demands every extra inch and the changes are erroneously deemed as progressive.

Fortunately my area was re-zoned from R3 Medium to R2 Low Density.

Fast forward to 2017; the SEPP was legislated. Councils and residents became insignificant tools of the State. Council Development Control Plans [DCP] became redundant; useless pieces of planning apparatus. In my area, The Hills Shire Council had drafted a DCP for Child Care Centres. The Fact Sheet is still on their website.

Among other things, a Child Care Centre [CCC] could not be built in an R2 Low Density Residential Zone and could not be built on an allotment less than twenty-two [22] metres wide in any other ‘permitted by consent’ zone. Exactly what the community demanded.

The Council capitulated and sold the residents down the river!

There is a development application for a CCC near me at the moment. An underground carpark larger than an Olympic Swimming Pool is proposed on a residential allotment on which a town-house couldn’t be built.  Under the original Council DCP it wouldn’t get to first base.

The City of Parramatta Council is calling for submissions for the Land Use Planning Harmonisation Discussion Paper. What is the point when the SEPP takes precedence?

The SEPP allows development where there is no demand; can be painted in any colours the developer wants; the list is far more extensive and abhorrent.

What is required is an overwhelming resident drive to have Child Care Centres banned from R2 Low Density Residential Zones. There is ample space in R3 and R4 zones. High-rise developments could even have a mandatory CCC within the development with NO IMPACT on community infrastructure.

Residents have rights and do not deserve this totalitarian approach by the Government. No matter what Local Government Area you reside, please support this drive to ban this over-development lunacy!