New state government policy that overrides Council development powers, allowing taller, bigger, multi-dwelling buildings in Manly, Balgowlah, Manly Vale, Brookvale, Dee Why, Forestville, Frenchs Forest and Mona Vale are now in effect.
It’s referred to as the Low to Mid-Rise Housing Policy, or LMR; it’s the second stage in the NSW Government’s bid to address the housing shortage.
What will it mean for the Northern Beaches?
The LMR, which is formally now in effect, means homes in the affected areas (yellow shading in the main image) that were previously restricted to a single-family house can now become multi-dwellings up to 9.5 metres high (between two and three storeys).
It allows for units anywhere up to six storeys (or higher with affordable housing provisions) on R3 zoned land for properties within 400 metres of major town centres. This is more than double the previous allowable size.
An indicative map of these areas has recently been released (you can search to see if your property falls within a town centre here).
Walk me through this
For example, according to zoning maps, one side of Ashburner Street in Manly is R3, and the other R1. On the R3 side, an application for a six storey apartment block could not be rejected on the basis of height alone. It may however be rejected on other grounds, more on that later.
Zoning in Manly CBD and surroundsMost of the areas around Balgowlah’s town centre are zoned R1, so multidwellings up to 9.5 metres (tall two or low three storeys) would be permitted on sites 500 sqm or more. The same applies for areas zoned R2.
While Council will remain the approving authority, these new non-discretionary controls will override Northern Beaches’ local planning controls and Council will not be able to refuse applications that comply with the new standards.
The new Low and Mid-Rise (LMR) Housing Policy, described by Northern Beaches Mayor Sue Heins as “essentially introduced overnight”, give opportunity for homes within 800 metres of town centres to go up where previously they may have been restricted.
The LMR Housing Policy, part of the NSW Government’s aspirational target to build 377,000 new homes by 2029 in response to the National Housing Accord to address the housing crisis, is expected to deliver 112,000 homes over the next five years. It is not known how many of these homes will be delivered on the Northern Beaches as it depends on how many land owners apply to further develop their properties and how successful those applications are.
It is estimated that over 11,000 homes are potentially affected by the changes.
Mayor Heins, introduced a Mayoral Minute at Council’s Meeting (18 March 2025) which will urge the NSW Government to urgently address the additional infrastructure requirements arising from the LMR Policy.
“The housing reforms have effectively rezoned thousands of properties across the Northern Beaches overnight,” Mayor Heins said.
“They will deliver many thousands more homes than have been envisaged in Council’s strategic plans. There will be significant change to the built form and character of large parts of the Northern Beaches.
“The Government has offered no financial support, or even acknowledgment, of the burden imposed on councils to now plan for, fund and deliver the significant additional infrastructure for their communities.
“With these reforms now imposed, it is imperative the NSW Government step up and invest in local infrastructure, transport and services to ameliorate the impacts this increase in density will have on our community.”
On the plus side
Minister for Planning and Public Places Paul Scully said he agreed with sentiments by the Housing Industry Association that the housing crisis is at a tipping point and that “one of the answers lies in embracing gentle density”.
“That’s why we have introduced our Low and Mid-Rise housing reforms,” he told Parliament on Thursday.
“They are bringing back choice of housing. They are bringing back housing types that were banned in many areas. And they are bringing back housing diversity.
“The homes that our reforms will allow fill the gap between high-rise apartments and greenfield development. We’re talking about types of housing such as townhouses, terraces, duplexes, and small apartment buildings. These types of homes have played a big part in NSW’s housing supply since Sydney was built.
“But over the last few decades, these types of homes have been slowly disappearing from lots of local areas because of council restrictions. On 60 per cent of land that had been zoned for medium density housing you weren’t allowed to build a small apartment building – stopping the red brick walk-ups that are part of our housing fabric from being part of our housing future. Local planning controls across the width and breath of the state often stopped you building a dual occupancy. In fact, if you wanted to build an iconic Sydney terrace there were only two council areas in all of Sydney that would have allowed it. It was a ridiculous situation.”
Meet Northern Beaches new town centres
The new controls will apply to all residential zoned land within 800 metres walking distance. The blue areas identify the town centres, with the dark blue outline the start of the LMR zoning. The light orange areas are indicative only. A developer looking to construct a multi-storey dwelling (per the guidelines at the end of this article) will need to measure the walked distance (not as the crow flies) from the dark blue outline.
Manly Town Centre
Manly Vale Town Centre
Balgowlah Stockland Shopping Centre
Warringah Mall Shopping Centre
Dee Why Town Centre
Forestville Town Centre, Forestway Shopping Centre, and Frenchs Forest Precinct (Warringah Road)
Mona Vale Town Centre
The list once included Warriewood, Narrabeen, Newport and Belrose, but after objections from Northern Beaches Council , they were removed from the Stage 2 reforms.
The Department selected the above town centres using “criteria developed from evidence and public feedback”. The criteria included access to goods and services, including full line supermarkets; public transport service, including buses with less than 15 minutes frequency and convenient travel time to major centres; critical infrastructure capacity (water, sewer, roads and public transport) and hazard and constraints (such as flood, bushfire and emergency evacuation).
The concerns for Northern Beaches
Public transport on the Northern Beaches includes extensive peak hour queues, buses missing key stops due to being at capacity, and residents left stranded at bus stops over cancelled services as bus driver, and buses themselves, remain in short supply. For those ditching the bus, getting in and out of the Beaches by car is a crawling commute.
State MPs, Michael Regan (Member for Wakehurst) and James Griffin (Member for Manly), and Jacqui Scruby (Pittwater) share the same concerns as Council.
Mr Regan called on the NSW Premier to intervene and pause the implementation of the Stage 2 LMR Housing Reform on the Northern Beaches until the NSW government comes up with a solution to the bus reliability issues plaguing Northern Beaches commuters.
“I agree we need more diverse housing options, including more townhouses and terraces, but the whole premise of the NSW Government’s housing push it to have more well-located homes near good public transport,” Mr Regan said.
“On the Northern Beaches, buses are our only form of public transport, and they are failing to meet the needs of existing residents, let alone the future ones. Clearly none of those doing the assessments [to determine the town centres] live in the area or catch the bus every day to work like I and many others do.”
“On the Northern Beaches, buses are our only form of public transport, and they are failing to meet the needs of existing residents, let alone the future ones.”
Pittwater MP Jacqui Scruby shared the sentiment. Plans for higher density housing in Mona Vale should be shelved until the bus crisis and Mona Vale Road are fixed, she said recently.
“We simply cannot support higher density housing. We can’t transport our current population at the moment. I invite the Premier to join me for a 190x commute to the city in the morning, if it turns up, to show him exactly what we are dealing with up here.“
“I appreciate that the NSW Government is trying to deliver much-needed new homes to address the housing crisis, and it has sensibly decided not to earmark other villages in Pittwater under these reforms. I am very happy that most of Pittwater retains local control over planning issues.
“But, we cannot just build and hope for the best. We need to carefully co-ordinate planning of homes, infrastructure, and transport, if we don’t want to grind to a halt every morning and every afternoon,” said Ms Scruby.
The NSW Government has since committed to 60 new buses (including ten B-line double deckers and 50 new bendy buses) to hit Northern Beaches roads by the end of this year. This is to meet current demand, however, not future demand.
Mr Griffin was equally critical.
“The Government claims the sites [town centres] have been identified using criteria that include public transport frequencies and travel times,” he said in a statement.
“Given our situation with the buses, particularly around Dee Why, and lack of information currently about any future investment from this Labor Government on transport infrastructure – remember they cancelled the tunnel- these new plans must come with a full transport infrastructure plan.”
How high is Low and Mid?
According to the Department’s website, low-rise housing is one to two storeys and includes dual occupancies, multi-dwelling housing (townhouses and terraces) and low-rise apartment buildings. For land zoned R1 General Residential and R2 Low Density Residential within 800m of town centres, a residential flat building of up to 9.5m will be permitted on sites with a minimum of 500sqm lot size.
Mid-rise housing is between three to six storeys and refers to residential flat buildings and shop-top housing. Specifically, residential flat buildings (up to 22m) and shop-top apartments (up to 24m) will be permitted in R3 Medium Density Residential zones within 400m of each town centre and land zoned R3 that is 400m to 800m from the town centre, up to 17.5m will be permitted.
These controls are ‘non-discretionary’ and will override Council’s local planning controls and Council’s ability to refuse applications that comply with the new standards.
As for affordable housing, should a developer allocate at least ten per cent affordable housing, they will be 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.
The policy does not apply to employment zones and mixed-use zones; high-risk land, including bushfire and land identified as coastal wetlands, littoral rainforest or a coastal vulnerability area; and, land that is a listed heritage item or on which a heritage item is located.
Need more information?
You can check out Council’s explainer here.
You can learn more from the State Government’s explainers here.
Article by Avi Vince and Kim Smee
