Apartment buildings of up to six storeys, terraces, and townhouses will be encouraged in 171 suburbs in NSW, with suburbs in the Lane Cove Local Government area being some of the suburbs targeted for the so-called missing middle.
On 21 February 2025, the NSW Government released details of its new Low and Mid-Rise Housing Policy (LMR).
The state government wants to enable homeowners and developers to convert their blocks of land into medium-density housing.
The idea is to free up blocks traditionally used for single-family freestanding houses by providing more housing on the same block that previously had one family occupying a house.
This LMR focuses on building more homes near to town centres (Lane Cove Village) and train stations (St Leonard and Wollstonecraft). Specifically, the NSW government has selected areas with houses and smaller apartment buildings within about a 10-minute walk (800 meters) of these places.
The LMR also refers to the 400m rule—this means that the closer you are (within 400 meters) to a train station or town centre and your land is in an R3 and R4 zone, the more potential there is for mid-rise apartment buildings to be developed.
However, most freestanding houses in Lane Cove are located in the R2 Zone— with blocks of land in Lane Cove ranging from about 500 to over 700 m².
Stage 1 Dual Occupancies – The NSW Government Low and Mid-Rise Housing Policy
Stage 1 started on 1 July 2024. It permitted dual occupancy and semi-detached homes in the R2 low-density residential zone across all of NSW, where they were prohibited before. Lane Cove already permitted dual occupancy in the R2 zone, so Stage 1 had little impact on Lane Cove.
The few councils that previously prohibited dual occupancies were given 12 months from 1 July 2024 to add a minimum lot size if they wished. Lane Cove already had a minimum lot size for dual occupancy, so it didn’t need to change anything.
The minimum land size for a dual occupancy in Lane Cove is:
- for dual occupancy (attached)- 750 square metres
- for dual occupancy (detached) – 900 square metres
Stage 2: Encouraging low and mid-rise housing- The NSW Government Low and Mid-Rise Housing Policy
The second stage of the LMR will start on 28 February 2025.
This policy has introduced new planning controls to allow dual occupancies, terraces, townhouses, apartments and shop-top housing in low and mid-rise housing areas across the following regions:
- Greater Sydney
- Central Coast
- Lower Hunter and Newcastle
- Illawarra-Shoalhaven
The low and mid-rise housing areas are residential zones within 800 metres of walking distance from the edge of a town centre (in our case, Lane Cove Village) and train/light rail stations (for example, Wollonstoncraft). Here is a link to an indicative map of the low and mid-rise housing areas. It is not calculated from the Lane Cove Civic Centre (aka the Council Chambers) or the Lane Cove Post Office – ITC has seen numerous comments that these are the calculation points.
As far as ITC is aware, the properties in the Lane Cove Council Area (which includes some in Greenwich) that will be subject to the new LMR changes are only within the indicative mapped area.
One of the main changes is that proposed dual occupancies in the mapped area will be permitted on smaller lots than Lane Cove Council would have otherwise permitted, including in heritage conservation areas.
Below are the new non-discretionary development standards (in other words, they override council requirements)
In R1, R2, R3 and R4 zones in the mapped area:
Lot size: min 450 m2
Lot width: min 12 m
Floor space ratio: max 0.65:1
Height of building: max 9.5 m
Car parking: 1 space per dwelling
Subdivision (R1, R2, R3 only): min 225 m2 per lot / 6 m width per lot
Data Crunching
According to Lane Cove Council’s analysis, the total number of lots eligible for dual occupancy/multi-dwelling housing in the R2 Low-Density Residential and R3 Medium Density Residential zones combined is 2685. The R2 and R3 zones are 2565 and 120, respectively.
In terms of aggregate insights on the data available – as it applies to Lane Cove, Lane Cove North, Lane Cove West and Riverview:
1,782 properties fall within the LMR. 750 properties are within the 0-400m LMR Precinct and 1,032 properties are within the 400-800m LMR Precinct.
Within this:
-
- 178 properties pass the minimum lot size required (500 sqm) and width (18m) for terrace housing
- 560 properties pass the minimum lot size required (600 sqm) and width (15m) for mutli dwelling housing
- 1,487 properties pass the minimum lot size required (450 sqm) and width (12m) for dual occupancy housing
ITC is still crunching the numbers on properties located in St Leonards South and Greenwich which will also be part of the LMR reforms.
The media release relating to the LMR changes was issued on Friday, February 21st, and ITC spent the following days reviewing all the information and maps to write an article on the new planning regime.
The Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure (Planning NSW) information includes FAQs and a summary of key provisions in State Environmental Planning Policy (Housing) 2021. However, after speaking with an expert town planner and reading other published articles, ITC has noticed inconsistencies and ambiguities on the Planning NSW website.
The regulations are to be gazetted on 28 February 2025. Once ITC has read them, we will publish a more detailed article about the planned changes. Here is a summary of the changes that may occur after the regulations are gazetted.
What are the Indicative Maps?
Planning NSW states on their website.
“The Department has created an interactive map to help people understand what areas the policy applies to. The map is indicative only and we recommend for people to do further checks to understand if their property is within the policy area.”
Will Sullivan from PropCode told ITC the following:
“The mapped area represents approximately 800m walking distance, but it’s not necessary to try to measure 800m because the mapped area is what counts.
The new rules for the lower-density zones and building types are the same within all mapped areas. However, for apartments in R3 and R4 zones, the new rules allow higher density within 400m walking distance of a station or edge of the centre zone, so this distance does need to be measured. PropCode has measured this in its data analysis.
Any project using these new rules must comply with town planning requirements in Council LEP, DCP, and the Apartment Design Guide, including heritage restrictions.
I am encouraged to see the NSW Government trying to shake up the planning system and encourage greater density in highly accessible inner suburbs. However there is still a lot of of confusion about how existing DCPs might restrict new higher density DAs.
I personally would like to see a substantial rewrite of the planning system in a way that allows and encourages well-designed growth within Sydney’s existing urban footprint.
I believe a system that doesn’t allow the city to grow in high-amenity, high-accessibility areas is a net negative for all of us. Many existing homeowners have benefited greatly from the economic growth of Sydney over the decades, so it’s not a good thing if that growth is stifled due to out-of-reach housing costs.”
So, as an example, the new LMR will apply to some houses in Riverview. For example, if you use Yallambee Road as an example – a few blocks in Yallambee Road will be able to take advantage of the new smaller block size for dual occupancies (the properties with the blue pins). The other houses on Yallambee Road must comply with the existing requirements of Lane Cove Council. See the map below, which was prepared using PropCode data.
PropCode’s AI-powered report is an automated planning report that analyses the full text of planning documents. It assists you in locating permissibility and other requirements. [ITC Note: PropCode is not an ITC sponsor and ITC has paid the published fee to access the data]
Rooftop Expansion in Mapped Area
The new policy also opens the door for airspace development, enabling property owners to build rooftop homes above existing buildings. This approach aligns with international trends seen in cities like London, Paris, and New York, where retrofitting and vertical expansion have been used to combat housing shortages while preserving existing structures.
“This is a game-changing policy,” said Warren Livesey, Airspace Specialists for Buy Airspace. “Instead of demolishing buildings and displacing communities, we now have a chance to utilise unused airspace, create much-needed housing, and fund building repairs—without adding urban sprawl.”
Summary of Key Provisions
A link to the summary of key provisions in State Environmental Planning Policy (Housing) 2021 is here.
LGNSW Response
Local Government NSW (LGNSW), the peak body representing local government in NSW, has responded to the LMR warning that the “one-size-fits-all” approach fails to address community infrastructure needs and is a missed opportunity to provide urgently needed affordable housing, particularly for essential workers in key locations.
LGNSW President Mayor Cr Phyllis Miller OAM indicated that, while each council would have views on specific sites, continued collaboration and transparent partnership with State Government was needed if the policy was going to succeed.
“We’re glad to see the changes outlined by the Minister will still allow councils to assess important development conditions including parking, light access and minimum frontages, but it’s important to note that will be set against new ‘non-refusal’ standards that are being imposed on us by the State,” Cr Miller said.
“When I met with the Planning Minister earlier this week, I made it very clear to him that together we can achieve much better outcomes if the State Government continues to work with councils when it comes to delivering housing solutions.
“The State Government insists that allowing these housing types will boost housing supply around transport and town centres, improve affordability, maintain the character of an area and build better communities.
“But that will only happen if the increase in density is matched with proper and significant infrastructure support from the State Government – we’re talking about schools, libraries, sports fields and playgrounds, adequate hospitals, even the basics of road infrastructure and sewerage and water supply.”
Cr Miller said she appreciated that the Government had responded to councils’ concerns about applying the policy to land that was prone to bushfires and floods, and had listened to feedback for areas where greater density would lead to unacceptable traffic and congestion impacts.
However, she expressed disappointment that there was no inclusion of affordable housing mandates in the policy.
“The absence of any contribution for in-perpetuity affordable housing is a significant missed opportunity to address this dire need, particularly for workers who carry out essential jobs in our communities,” Cr Miller said.
“These key elements of much-needed infrastructure and affordable housing mandates need to be in place from the very start so developers can factor that into the cost of land.
“Councils are at the forefront of our communities – we know what opportunities there are, but we also know too well the obstacles that are holding us back. Local Government – as always – stands ready to work alongside the State to help address this very real housing crisis.”
What’s Next?
Once the regulations are gazetted on 28 February 2025 it is hoped that the new planning system will be easier to understand. Willoughby City Council has indicated that they will hold an information session, and it is hoped that Lane Cove Council will also hold one.
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