A back-to-the-future proposal reviving an old Sydney train station to spur the building of thousands of homes in a highly-sought-after area has been slammed as a “free gift to the rich and developers.”
Woollahra train station, which has remained unfinished for 50 years, will finally be brought to life under a NSW government rezoning proposal to build high-rise towers in Sydney’s east.
The affluent area, where the average house price fetches more than $4.5 million, is less than a 10-minute drive from Sydney city’s centre.
But Greens MP Sue Higginson suggested Labor had done too little before the project’s unveiling at the weekend to prevent property developers and home owners being the main beneficiaries.
“Why did you … announce your free gift to the rich and the developers … without first announcing a windfall gain zoning tax on the massive profits that will be earned and pocketed by the wealthy few?” she asked Planning Minister Paul Scully in parliament on Monday.
But Scully bit back, saying the state would still collect revenue.
“It’s not a tax haven, we’re not creating that,” he told the budget estimates hearing.
The proportion of below-market-rent homes was not yet decided but Scully said he hoped it would be about 10 per cent.
“We are seriously trying to address [affordable housing] for the first time in a long time,” he said.
Privately held land lining the station is already valued at up to $10,000 per square metre by the valuer-general.
One home about 150 metres from the yet-to-be-developed station sold for $10.6 million in March.
Construction of the station on Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs line was halted in the 1970s after community opposition, producing a ghost station on the trip to Bondi Junction.
Labor says reopening it could support up to 10,000 new homes and rebalance housing construction, which has been predominantly focused on Sydney’s west in recent years, to areas with existing infrastructure.
In a turnabout from her previous positions on development in her home electorate, Liberal MP and rising star Kellie Sloane said she welcomed the Minns government’s plan but also questioned the lack of details.
“I do support the train station [in Woollahra]. What we need to get some answers on are … how do they expect to build 10,000 homes?” she told ABC Radio.
Tom Forrest, head of the property developers advocate Urban Taskforce, said there was a slow turning of the corner for “home buyers who have been locked out of this area for decades”.
On Monday, Scully denied the project was a “plan B” for the doomed proposal to redevelop Rosehill Racecourse in the hope of building 25,000 homes. It was knocked back by Australian Turf Club members.
“We’re expanding housing supply where it’s sensible to do so [and] consistent with rebalancing our housing growth,” he said.
-AAP
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