Bushfire risk forces change to Housing Strategy
Bushfire risk forces change to Housing Strategy
12 March 2011
published by hornsby-advocate.whereilive.com.au
Australia — COMMERCIAL precincts in Mt Colah and Berowra could be removed from the Housing Strategy because of bushfire risks.
Hornsby Council approved its draft development control plan, which applies to five, eight and 10-storey residential and mixed-use developments in Hornsby, Pennant Hills, Asquith, Berowra, Mt Colah, Waitara, Normanhurst and Thornleigh.
It is part of Hornsby Housing Strategy, the councils plan to meet the population target set by the NSW Governments Metropolitan Housing Strategy.
But the NSW Rural Fire Service has raised concerns about the commercial precincts planned for the Pacific Highway in Berowra and Mt Colah.
Following the Royal Commission into the 2009 Victorian bushfires, the Rural Fire Service is developing a policy to cater for high-rise developments.
The NSW Planning Department could remove the two commercial developments from the Housing Strategy.
In December, the Advocate reported that the number of new homes needed in Hornsby and Ku-ring-gai municipalities by 2036 under a new Sydney Metropolitan Plan is 29,000 an increase of 8000 on the original plan developed in 2005.
The latest metropolitan plan released by the State Government forecasts Sydneys population to increase from 4.3 million in 2006 to 6 million in 2036.
The increase of 1.7 million means the number of new homes in Sydney must increase by 770,000 to 2.45 million by 2036, of which our area will take 29,000.
