The Sydney North Planning Panel (SNPP) has overruled Northern Beaches Council and pushed forward a major rezoning at rural Ingleside towards Gateway determination if certain conditions can be met.
The decision, which was 3-1 in favour of rezoning the land at Wilga Avenue and Wilson Street from Rural Landscape to Medium Density Residential, will pave the way for 536 homes and buildings up to 24 metres tall, with the panel citing the need for housing supply as its key justification.
It’s sparked community outrage, with residents accusing the state government of ignoring local concerns, particularly around bushfire risk and the area’s lack of evacuation routes in the event of natural hazards.
“The Panel’s decision flies in the face of logic,” local resident and Elanora Heights Residents Association spokesperson, Dick Clarke told Manly Observer.
“This is the Minn’s government’s furious desire to claim to have solved the housing crisis.
“The Pittwater LEP (local environment plan) and Ingleside DCP were developed by the old Pittwater Council through extensive community consultation and are generally well-respected by the communities they were established to serve.
“So much for NSW Planning ‘valuing community input’.”
Northern Beaches Mayor Sue Heins said Council is disappointed with the Panel’s decision after local concerns were not addressed.
“The site is not in or near a town centre yet proposes a development scale and built form above that permitted under the NSW Government’s Low and Mid Rise Housing Policy,” Mayor Heins said.
“The proposal does not manage bushfire risk and evacuation, lacks access to public transport, would have an unacceptable impact on the local road network, and lacks the necessary infrastructure to support the scale of growth.
“During the Council’s exhibition period, Council received 606 submissions, with an overwhelming 94 per cent (567 submissions) objecting to the proposal.
“The community sentiment does not seem to have changed to date.”
Panel member Michael Leavey, who voted against the rezoning proposal, echoed these sentiments. He flagged that there were still unresolved issues surrounding natural hazards, in particular bushfire and evacuation routes, and that the proposed development wasn’t near a town centre or public transportation hubs.
The development
Mirvac Homes (NSW) Pty Ltd (Mirvac) and Ingleside Wilga Developments Pty Ltd (Truslan) want to rezone the site from RU2 Rural Landscape to R3 Medium Density Residential, RE1 Public Recreation and C2 Environmental Conservation for future development of the site. That development would make way for plans to construct 536 homes, including 133 detached dwellings up to two storeys, 210 terrace housing up to three storeys, and 193 apartments up to six storeys.
The streets neighbouring the site are zoned as RU2 or R2 Low Density; therefore, this rezoning and potential development, if approved, would be unique for the area.
In the current plans, there are 19 lots, with Mirvac owning four (21 per cent) and Truslan owning three lots (16 per cent). The remaining lots are privately owned except for one lot, which is owned by the Serbian Orthodox Church.
Last year, Mirvac told Manly Observer they have held land in the Ingleside area since 2013, when the state government at the time committed to rezoning the precinct.
“We’ve worked with planning authorities to develop a proposal that responds to safety and environmental considerations, including the Department of Planning’s release of a revised Ingleside Land Use & Infrastructure Strategy, which reduced the number of potential future homes from around 3,000 to 980, all south of Mona Vale Road,” a Mirvac spokesperson said.
“In line with this, our proposal seeks to enable much-needed new housing, with a mixture of mid-rise apartments, attached, semi-detached and free-standing homes, that will help young families stay in the area and support an ageing population. The proposal includes environmental conservation works, open space, and new walking trails.
“This is an early step in a longer planning process, with further opportunities for community and stakeholder input to come.”
However, Clarke worries this is a Trojan horse for the rest of the precinct after the 2022 Ingleside Place Strategy was abandoned by the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure (DPHI) following fierce local criticism and warnings from the Rural Fire Service that bushfire evacuation modelling for Powderworks Road was incomplete, infrastructure costs were prohibitive, and biodiversity impacts remained unresolved.
Northern Beaches Local Planning Panel refused the rezoning proposal in December 2025, followed by Council resolving not to support the planning proposal at its February 2026 meeting.
The Panel’s conditions
The main local concern with the proposed development centred on what residents of the 536 homes would do in the event of a natural hazard like a bushfire or flood event, particularly as Powderworks Road is the only way out for residents, and only way in for emergency crews. Manly Observer reported on how residents still recall the devastation left by the January 1994 bushfires in Ingleside (you can read about that here).
The Panel noted “the proposal can adequately address or manage natural hazards”, and “the local road network could support the expected uplift”.
However, none of the conditions set by the Panel for the developers to amend their proposal address bushfire risk or evacuation capacity.
Instead, the Panel has given the developers two weeks to agree to the following amendments:
- The proposal must incorporate St Sava Church at 5 Wilson Avenue and the adjoining lot at 3 Wilson Avenue into the rezoning without increasing the number of planned dwellings. This means the height and density will be redistributed, ideally lowering the maximum building height and density.
- The developer needs to justify why the type of housing it proposes in its plan is needed by the community.
- The developer needs to draft a Development Control Plan (DCP), basically a rule book for the development.
- Commit to affordable housing under Council’s affordable housing contribution scheme.
- Finally, to identify how local infrastructure will be delivered, including works and delivery timeframes.
Should the developer agree to revise the proposal according to the above conditions, they have up to three months to deliver a revised proposal back to the Panel.
If a Gateway Determination is issued (following the Panel reviewing the revised proposal), it will go on public exhibition giving the community and Council an opportunity to provide further submissions.
“The Panel have opened the Gateway process on the condition that the proposal is somehow scaled back, whereas it really needs a complete redesign,” Clarke said.
“The Elanora and Ingleside communities will not give way easily.”
Catch up on our earlier coverage:
Same risk, new name: residents rally against medium density plans for rural Ingleside
