Sam Ngai,mayor of Ku-ring-gai Council,said his council has been trying to work with the state government.Credit:Jessica Hromas
Thecouncil will seek “declarations as to invalidity and orders restraining any associated breach of law,including the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act” in the Land and Environment Court.
Scully blasted the council – which he has previously accused of being the only one in Sydney to refuse to work with the government on its housing reforms – for the decision,accusing it of “wasting ratepayers’ money to try and stop housing in the middle of a housing crisis”.
“How many services will need to be sacrificed to use ratepayers money to run an expensive legal case?” he asked.
But Ku-ring-gai’s Liberal mayor Sam Ngai said the Labor state government had ignored his council’s concerns about infrastructure and green space. The LGA has the single-highest tree cover in Sydney,accounting for 43.8 per cent of its area - but Ngai said open space was not evenly spaced.
“If you look at the Roseville TOD precinct,for example,there’s only one park in the entire area,and that’s a small war memorial garden. So if you build 5000 new dwellings and say,‘Hey kids,look,you don’t have a backyard,but we want you to play somewhere,so go to the small war memorial garden across the highway,’ that doesn’t really work.”
He said other infrastructure concerns – including schools and transport infrastructure – could be upgraded later,but open spaces were different:“If we don’t act on it right now,then the site gets developed,and there wouldn’t be open space for residents.”