NSW Planning Minister Rob Stokes has released a discussion paper aimed at making it easier for developers to build medium-density housing.

The proposal contains new development standards that will make it quicker and easier to have dual-occupancy homes, townhouses and terraces approved for construction. The proposal also puts forward the concept of 'manor homes', where a two-storey building on a block of 500sqm or more might have three or four homes within it, becoming in effect a small block of apartments.

If the new standards are approved, developers could have their medium-density housing proposals approved up to four times more quickly. The proposals are aimed at encouraging developers to build medium-density housing.

Urban Taskforce CEO, Chris Johnson, said, "The current Housing Code provides for 10-day approvals for two-storey detached houses and this can easily be extended to townhouses and terrace houses."

Johnson said the Urban Taskforce would like to see the new rules expanded to include six-storey developments.

"We believe that mid-rise apartments should also be considered for complying development," he said. "As Sydney's population inevitably increases there will need to be more urban consolidation in existing areas. To replace detached houses with terrace houses in unlikely to be economically feasible in many suburbs, but to replace two-storey with six-storey is likely to be feasible and should be encouraged as the next step after the government's inclusion of low-rise medium-density housing as complying development."

See also:

NSW government planning for more terraces