The planning proposal to rezone land at 177 Long Brush Road Jerrera, 33 Grayleigh Drive and 103 Jamberoo Road Kiama by the development company Traders in Purple threatens the destruction of prime agricultural land, through the residential and commercial development of Kiama’s renowned rolling green hills.  Once it’s gone, its gone forever.

Sign this petition to send a clear message to the NSW State Government, Minister for Planning, Kiama State MP, Southern Regional Planning Panel, Kiama Council and Traders in Purple that this planning proposal is not supported by the Kiama Community and those who come to Kiama to enjoy all that it has to offer.

The rezoning proposal

The proposal seeks to:

• Rezone part of the site zoned RU2 “Rural Landscape” to part Low Density Residential, Medium Density Residential, Local Centre and Public Recreation.
• Introduce a maximum height of buildings of 8.5 metres for Low Density zoned land and 15 metres for Medium Density and Local Centre zoned land
• Reduce the minimum subdivision lot size on the size to 450sq metres on Low and Medium Density zoned land
• Reduce the minimum subdivision lot size to 1,000sqm on Rural Landscape zoned land on the southern portion of the site.

The “Springside Hill” rezoning proposal intends to add 1200 homes to the Kiama LGA. Traders in Purple (developer) claim that “Springside Hill will have a 25% guarantee – ensuring that homes will be set aside for essential workers, first home buyers and local residents”, with 5% of homes being allocated to each of the following categories – key workers, first home buyers, local buyers, Housing Trust for affordable housing, NSW Government for community housing (Source: springsidehill.com.au). This equates to only 60 homes per category, 300 out of the total 1200. Arguably, none of these proposed homes will be truly ‘affordable’, and the developer is set to make a massive windfall through rezoning.

Source - Concept Master Plan

Reasons for opposition

The proposal does not have strategic merit.

• The proposed site is not included in any current strategic planning (including Illawarra Shoalhaven Regional Plan, Kiama LPS, or the draft Kiama Growth & Housing strategy.
• The proposal is inconsistent with the Illawarra Shoalhaven Regional Plan and the NSW Government’s agenda that seeks to prioritise opportunities for new housing in existing centres, near public transport and commercial services, and utilising infrastructure and services already available. This site does not tick any of those boxes.
• Council has recently exhibited a draft local housing strategy and due to timing of the 2024 Local Government elections has not yet had the opportunity to adopt the strategy. The draft however does not include the proposed site, and identifies other sites as being more appropriate.
• The proposal is “long term” and will not contribute to Kiama Council’s state imposed 5-year housing target of 900 new homes.  The developer has made claims that it will have “first shovels in the ground as early as 2027”, this is simply not achievable given the planning processes are in early stages, and the lack of supporting infrastructure for the site.
• The proposal is deficient in a number of areas including:
  • Having not consulted with various State Government agencies – Transport for NSW, Department of Education, NSW Rural Fire Service, NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy and Environment and Sydney Water
• The proposal does not adequately address water management, biodiversity and management of riparian lands
  • The site being located on said rolling green hills means much of the site is steep. The site is within the catchment of spring creek, which already regularly floods where it crosses Jamberoo Road and Dido Street. The addition of 1200 houses and roads will increase the flash flooding at these points and natural water retention by the landscape will be impacted.
• The proposal ignores the destruction of prime agricultural land, currently utilised for food production and cropping of fodder.The NSW Department of Primary Industries policy for Maintaining Land for Agricultural Industries provides that “land with the best combination of soil, climate, topography and water for agricultural production is a limited resource in NSW and should be maintained for future generations”. That policy provides “NSW Department of Primary Industries (Agriculture) where appropriate will provide input into planning decisions of a strategic nature which affect agriculture”.  DPI have not been consulted, and have not been identified by the SRPP as an agency for consultation. 
• That same policy provides that Environmental planning instruments should:
  • protect natural resources used by agriculture;
  • protect other values associated with agricultural land that are of importance to local communities, such as heritage and visual amenity;
• The site has no pre-existing infrastructure in terms of water, sewerage, roads. The proposal does not adequately address how these infrastructure needs will be addressed on the proposed site. Moreover, there is an assumption that large portions of the area including roads, riparian areas, open space will need to be maintained by Kiama Council.
• The proposal includes space for a school site, which seems unlikely given the lack of flat space available for such a development.
• The campaign for the proposal tries to ‘sweeten the deal’ with provision for affordable housing, community housing and a 5% portion (60 homes) each to be put aside for local buyers and key workers. The proposed area is not suitable for ‘affordable’ or ‘low cost’ housing development given the topography of the site. Development and infrastructure costs on steep land with a basalt base will be high. There is also no way to hold the Developers to their guarantee.
• The State Government priorities for housing seeks “diverse and well located homes”, that being in areas within walking distance to transport, shops and services. State Government policy considers a “walkable distance” to be a 10 minute walk of 800 metres. This proposal ticks none of those boxes.
• Kiama Council has identified a number of other areas in the LGA, that provide housing solutions that are shorter term than this proposal, are well located, and do not require greenfield expansion.

This proposal does not give the community what it needs or wants. A clear message needs to be sent to the State Government, Minister for Planning, Kiama State MP, Kiama Council and Traders in Purple that this planning proposal is not supported by the Kiama Community and those who come to Kiama to enjoy all that it has to offer.

Current status

On 16 April 2024 Kiama Council resolved not to support the Planning Proposal.

Traders in Purple did not accept the decision of Council and the sentiment of the Kiama community and submitted a rezoning review on 13 June 2024.

Despite Kiama Council being in caretaker mode and awaiting election results, the Strategic Planning Pannel of the Southern Regional Planning Panel made its decision on  the rezoning review on 12 September 2024. The Planning Pannel determined (in a 2:2 vote that was decided by the casting vote of the Acting Chairperson Stephen O’Connor), that the planning proposal should be submitted for a Gateway determination because the proposal “has demonstrated strategic and subject to changes site specific merit”.

The reasons for decision are available here 

Next steps

The Planning Panel determination allows the proponent, Traders in Purple, two weeks to confirm whether they agree to revise their planning proposal to be consistent with the Panel’s recommendations. Following this, the proponent has four months to provide a revised planning proposal, including supporting reports and studies to the Panel. The Panel will then consider the revised proposal and whether it has demonstrated site specific merit and is suitable for submitting to a Gateway determination by the NSW State Government.

If the proposal is submitted for a Gateway determination, it will then be a matter for the Department of Planning Housing and Industry to consider whether the rezoning proposal be approved.

What you can do

1. Sign this petition to send a clear message to the NSW State Government, Minister for Planning, Kiama State MP, Southern Regional Planning Panel, Kiama Council and Traders in Purple that this planning proposal is not supported by the Kiama Community and those who come to Kiama to enjoy all that it has to offer

2. Write to the following people/departments and voice your objections and dissatisfaction with the planning proposal and the Planning Panel decision

a. Minister for Planning – Paul Scully MP - office@Scully.minister.nsw.gov.au

b. Department of Planning, Industry and Environment - information@planning.nsw.gov.au

c. Southern Regional Planning Panel - enquiry@planningpanels.nsw.gov.au

d. Minister for Illawarra and the South Coast - Ryan Park MP Office@Park.minister.nsw.gov.au

e. Minister for Regional NSW and Minister for Agriculture - Tara Moriarty MLC - office@moriarty.minister.nsw.gov.au

f. Department of Primary Industries (agriculture) landuse.ag@dpi.nsw.gov.au 

g. Minister for Housing - Rose Jackson MP

office@jackson.minister.nsw.gov.au 

h. Shadow Minister for Planning – Scott Farlow - Scott.farlow@parliament.nsw.gov.au