The key policy instruments for managing and integrating development in New South Wales are the metropolitan and regional development strategies described below. These strategies consider such issues as service and infrastructure delivery, environmental sustainability, housing demand and economic development. These provide the broader context within which local housing strategies are to be formulated.
Sydney Metropolitan Strategy
The Sydney Metropolitan Strategy is the NSW Government's long-term plan to maintain Sydney's role in the global economy, and to plan for growth and change. The Government will use the Metropolitan Strategy to respond to the growth and change that will occur in the Greater Metropolitan Region (GMR) of Sydney over the next 25 years.
In consultation with local government, subregional planning strategies are currently being prepared for the ten Sydney subregions identified in the Metropolitan Strategy:
· Sydney City
· Inner North
· Inner West
· South
· East
· North-east
· North
· North-west
· West Central
· South-west.
These strategies will address the distribution of housing and employment. Local councils will use subregional planning to develop strategies for towns, villages and neighbourhood centres.
Regional strategies
Other regional strategies are being introduced with the same purpose as the sub-regional plans — though they also include the specific purpose of planning for sustainable natural environments, and the promotion of rural resource production. The six regional plans under preparation include Lower Hunter, South Coast, Far-north Coast, Illawarra, Central Coast and Mid-north Coast. For further information see the Department of Planning’s Plans for action in Regional NSW.
For a broader summary of key planning instruments in NSW as they relate to housing, see the Kit’s companion document, NSW Statutory Planning Framework for Housing Provision.