Mona Vale residents are calling on the NSW Government to halt State-led development in the suburb until an independent, cumulative infrastructure capability and emergency evacuation audit is formally tabled in NSW Parliament. This comes after claims the NSW Department of Planning didn’t conduct detailed utilisation forecasts for Mona Vale town centre – something the Minister for Planning disputes.
Resident action group, SOS (Save Our Suburb) Mona Vale, rallied at Parliament House on 21 October. More than 100 members, backed by more than 2,500 local signatures, presented the findings of a 12-month community investigation into why the Pittwater Peninsula cannot safely absorb multi-storey housing as part of State planning reforms like the Low and Mid-Rise (LMR) Housing reforms.
“Our community has conducted an extensive, evidence-based investigation into the carrying capacity of Mona Vale and the surrounding suburbs,” SOS Mona Vale Convenor John David said.
“The evidence compiled in this document proves that the Low and Mid-Rise Housing Policy and State Significant Development (SSD) pathways cannot safely proceed on the Pittwater Peninsula.
“Our geography is a non-negotiable cul-de-sac.
“The government has not done their homework, so we have done it for them.”
Independent Member for Pittwater, Jacqui Scruby, is backing the group.
“Development cannot be a ‘let it rip’ exercise,” she said.
“Mona Vale and the wider Pittwater area face very real constraints, including major roads that can be cut off by flooding and bushfires, an already dysfunctional transport system, and wastewater infrastructure limitations.”
Ms Scruby added that Paul Scully, Minister for Planning, said on record that while a high-level desktop multi-criteria analysis was undertaken, the Department did not conduct detailed utilisation forecasts for Mona Vale as part of the LMR reforms.
“My electorate is calling for action, and… call on the government for a statutory moratorium [a temporary legal pause] for Pittwater,” she said.
Mr Scully said that the claims that Mona Vale was rezoned without proper assessment are misleading.
Who said what
On 11 June 2025, Ms Scruby asked Mr Scully whether the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure accounted for the capacity differences between trains and buses, and for infrastructure capacity, when choosing town centres under the LMR housing reforms. She also asked for the expected increase in dwellings and population across NSW and in postcode 2103 over 15 years, and for the potential and likely take-up of the rezoning in the Mona Vale town centre.
Mr Scully answered that the Department said it chose low and mid-rise town centres through a multi-criteria analysis. It estimates the policy will deliver an additional 112,000 homes statewide by June 2029, but it has no forecasts by postcode.
“While high-level feasibility testing informed the development of the policy, the Department has not undertaken detailed utilisation forecasts for individual centres including Mona Vale,” Mr Scully added.
Mr David explained that the investigation, and dossier which was presented to NSW Parliament on 21 October, “was prepared following the admission by Paul Scully, the Minister for Planning that a detailed study of Mona Vale’s ability to safely sustain higher density was not conducted before it was re-zoned.”
However, Mr Scully said this claim was misleading.
“SOS Mona Vale has conflated two separate issues: how much development will be taken up in a particular centre, which depends on market and economic conditions, and whether infrastructure capacity was assessed, which it was,” Mr Scully told Manly Observer.
“Mona Vale Town Centre was selected after an assessment that considered hazards and constraints, access to goods and services, public transport frequency, and the capacity of infrastructure such as roads, water and sewer, followed by public exhibition and engagement with Northern Beaches Council.
“The overall housing capacity of the reforms was also tested with Transport for NSW, Sydney Water, and other infrastructure agencies as part of an all of government process.”
He added that exempting one area from its “fair share of the housing challenge” would shift the pressure onto other communities.
The dossier’s key findings
SOS Mona Vale’s dossier, titled Infrastructure & Life-Safety – Urgent Planning Report: An Evidentiary Brief to Support an Immediate Moratorium on Higher-Density Upzoning in Mona Vale, was delivered to the Parliamentary Secretary for Planning and Public Spaces, Stephen Bali, on 21 October 2026.
It outlines four key evidentiary findings.
Wastewater and Coastal Health Failures
SOS Mona Vale says the Warriewood Wastewater Treatment Plant operates beyond its baseline capacity. It says heavy rain overwhelms bypass storage within one to two hours, sending partially treated effluent into the surf zone off Turimetta Head.
Ms Scruby told Parliament, “The plant discharges to an 80m cliff face pipe off Turimetta Head, right into the intertidal surf zone rather than an ocean outfall. This is where we swim and surf.”
Sydney Water said its most recent capacity assessment for Warriewood Wastewater Treatment Plant, in 2023, found no current constraints and concluded the plant has enough capacity for future growth.
An updated assessment is expected to be completed by this financial year.
“The facility is designed to manage wet weather impacts through an on-site storage lagoon, which provides additional capacity during rainfall events,” a spokesperson told Manly Observer.
“During wet weather, the lagoon is used to capture and store the first flush flows, allowing these flows to be treated once capacity becomes available at the plant and reducing the need for bypasses.
“Sydney Water operates a text message notification system to alert local stakeholders and surf lifesaving representatives when wet weather bypasses occur.”
Life Safety and Evacuation Gridlock
SOS Mona Vale said that the Pittwater Peninsula is a geographic cul-de-sac bordered by national park and the sea.
“Over 35,000 residents north of Mona Vale depend on a single two-lane arterial road, Barrenjoey Road, in order to evacuate south,” Ms Scruby told Parliament.
“The 1996 Hyatt Coronial Inquiry into the deadly 1994 bushfires explicitly warned that coastal peninsulas bordered by continuous national parks become lethal death traps when a single arterial road fails.
“Densifying Mona Vale without a secondary egress directly contravenes section 9.1 planning direction 4.3 in the binding principles of the planning for Bush Fire Protection in 2019.”
She explained that if a catastrophic bush fire emerging from Kuring-gai Chase were to occur, like it did in 1994, Mona Vale Road may close (as it did in 1994) and potentially cause Pittwater Road and Wakehurst Parkway to choke. This would leave no viable road for the community to escape.
The Rapid Transit Myth
SOS Mona Vale said Mona Vale was included in the LMR reforms as it is serviced by rapid transit. However, they say the B-Line runs in mixed traffic and Region 8 (Northern Beaches and Lower North Shore) accounts for nearly 30 per cent of all bus cancellations across Greater Sydney.
A TfNSW spokesperson said comparing a region’s cancellation rate with its share of total cancellations is “not a like-for-like comparison” because regions run different numbers of scheduled services.
“Region 8’s cancellations have primarily been driven by bus driver shortages,” they told Manly Observer.
“Transport for NSW continues to work closely with the Region 8 operator Keolis Northern Beaches on targeted driver recruitment, timetable adjustments and other operational improvements aimed at reducing cancellations and improving reliability for passengers.”
Since the start of this year, an additional 141 weekly services have been introduced across Region 8 (including 112 additional B-Line services), according to TfNSW, who added that 10 new double-decker buses will join the B-Line fleet in coming months.
Ms Scruby added it wasn’t only about public transport.
“The Wakehurst Parkway continually floods when it rains and therefore is closed,” she said.
“Mona Vale Road is a complete bottleneck, and while those projects are progressing, they are many many years away before the Pittwater residents finally get to see those benefits.”
The Affordable Housing Luxury Loophole
In addition to allowing taller buildings in town centres, like Mona Vale, under the LMR Housing reforms, should a developer allocate at least ten per cent affordable housing for a period of 15 years, they are now permitted to have 30 per cent additional floor space and building height. This means that six storeys could turn into nine for those within 400m of town centres.
Allocation of affordable housing within developments is to ensure that our essential workers can live where they work.
Both Ms Scruby and SOS Mona Vale highlighted how the affordable housing component doesn’t stack up.
“A two-bedroom apartment rents for $1,000 a week,” Ms Scruby explained.
“A 30 per cent discounted rent will consume 53 per cent of a first-year registered nurse’s take-home pay, throwing them into rental stress.
“Even if a nurse and police officer applied together, their combined wages would then be too high and disqualify them [for affordable housing].”
The rally
More than 100 residents attended NSW Parliament House on 21 October 2026, and called for state-led planning reforms to be stopped in the Pittwater electorate.
“After speeches, a small delegation of us was well received by the Parliamentary Secretary for Planning and Public Spaces, Stephen Bali,” Mr David said who presented the group’s dossier to Mr Bali through Ms Scruby.
“I have the impression that he was genuinely interested to hear what we had to say.
“He expressed an interest in visiting Mona Vale to learn more, and we agreed that he would be welcomed respectfully in the ‘Beaches’ way.
“I feel that our little community is a step closer to reclaiming control over its way forward.”
Ms Scruby said all Members of Parliament were invited to the event, but from the Legislative Assembly, only those who voted against the bipartisan planning reforms addressed the crowd including Ms Scruby, Member for Wakehurst, Michael Regan, and Member for Balmain, Kobi Shetty. Sue Higginson MLC and the Hon Rachel Merton MLC from the Legislative Council also attended.
Ms Scruby called out the Opposition for failing to oppose the planning reforms.
“Political pressure comes from community pressure,” she said.
“Pittwater locals took their concerns directly to the steps of NSW Parliament, making it clear that they will not stand by whilst these bipartisan planning reforms turn on the taps for developers at the expense of our community.
“Just as they did on the floor of Parliament when they voted for these reforms, Liberal and Labor MPs declined the opportunity to hear directly from the people affected by them.”
What happens next?
SOS Mona Vale says the Government has indicated it has read the dossier.
Mr David is preparing an ePetition for the NSW Parliament website.
