‘Taking our eye off the ball’: State’s architect warned against dumping green housing reforms

NSW’s state architect warned senior bureaucrats that dumping draft rules for greener and more sustainable housing developments lacked sense, and said a powerful developers group was trying to “circumvent the process” by lobbying for Planning Minister Anthony Roberts to ditch the policy.

Roberts declared he had listened to the development industry when he scrapped his predecessor Rob Stokes’ draft rules, known as the Design and Place State Environmental Planning Policy (SEPP), at an event run by developer group Urban Taskforce on April 6.

NSW state architect Abbie Galvin worked on the Design and Place SEPP for two years.Credit:Nic Walker

Environment groups have criticised the decision to abandon the draft SEPP, which required new developments to mitigate and adapt to the risks of climate change. They were part of a draft plan for all NSW buildings to operate at net zero emissions “well before” before 2050.

Urban Taskforce had fiercely opposed the draft SEPP as “unworkable and inadequate” when it was released in December, weeks before Roberts was given the portfolio in a reshuffle.

Emails show the taskforce was directly lobbying Planning Department officials to scrap the policy entirely before April, prompting government architect Abbie Galvin to warn the group was “seeking to circumvent the process and jump to the front of the queue where they will be listened to”.

“I think it is really critical that they are not given priority treatment simply because they have the loudest voice,” Galvin said in an email to Planning Department deputy secretary Brett Whitworth.

Greens MP Cate Faehrmann said the internal emails and documents, released under a parliamentary rule, raised alarm that Urban Taskforce had “an inappropriate level of influence” over Roberts and his office, and had “deliberately set out to undermine the government architect and her work”.

“This SEPP was the result of years of hard work by experts, including within the planning department, to make NSW more sustainable and climate resilient, and now we’re back to square one,” she said.

Urban Taskforce chief executive Tom Forrest said the “overwhelming view of the property construction and development industry is that the Design and Place SEPP should be entirely scrapped”, in an email to Whitworth and fellow deputy secretary Marcus Ray in February.

Notes from a meeting on April 11 with Whitworth and the department’s executive director of stakeholder engagement, William Power, also show Forrest had “noted the size of the [government architect’s] office has grown” and that he said “architects shouldn’t have a role in planning”.

Planning and Homes Minister Anthony Roberts was told to prioritise affordable housing and delivering new homes.Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

In March, Galvin said in an email to Whitworth that stopping work on the draft policy could mean the proposed reforms were “hard to pick up again”.

“Whilst housing and floods are all-consuming, taking our eye off the ball with things that impact climate, urban heat and basic amenity standards for new development doesn’t make sense as it should be helping housing supply, approval speed and flooding (long term) as opposed to hindering,” Galvin wrote in an email to Whitworth.

“Given the [financial] investment so far has been huge, it’s important not to throw all of that away.”

In a separate email, Galvin said a ministerial adviser who contacted her about briefing Roberts was “keen to look at what options there may be for the Design and Place SEPP”. The adviser said the minister “didn’t have a great reputation when it came to climate – which they needed to address”.

A spokeswoman for Roberts said Premier Dominic Perrottet had requested the minister prioritise housing affordability and delivering new homes.

She said there had been extensive consultation on the decision to dump the draft SEPP.

“[The minister] will continue to develop elements of the Design and Place SEPP which support sustainable supply of housing that helps NSW meet its targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” the spokeswoman said.

This included updating the Building Sustainability Index (BASIX) assessment tool to ensure new homes were more energy-efficient.

Forrest said construction costs were surging, and he welcomed Roberts’ decision to “remove this ill-considered burden from new home buyers”.

He said the taskforce had publicly opposed the draft SEPP along with the Property Council of Australia, the Housing Industry Association and the Urban Development Industry Association.

Forrest said it was “sensible for any planning minister to consider the views of key stakeholders”.

Galvin declined to comment.

The NSW chapter president of the Australian Institute of Architects, Laura Cockburn, said the organisation was keen to work with Roberts to “advance effective planning and design policies”.

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