business - 2026-07-31
Mona Vale meeting calls for Parliament protest over development rules
Source: www.northernbeachesadvocate.com.au
About 250 Northern Beaches residents met in Mona Vale on Saturday, 25 July, as local campaigners called for stronger opposition to State Significant Developments and a protest outside NSW Parliament House. Speakers argued that current planning rules give developers an unfair advantage, reduce Northern Beaches Council's role and leave residents too little time to respond to major proposals.
About 250 Northern Beaches residents met in Mona Vale on Saturday, 25 July, as local campaigners called for stronger opposition to State Significant Developments and a protest outside NSW Parliament House. Speakers argued that current planning rules give developers an unfair advantage, reduce Northern Beaches Council's role and leave residents too little time to respond to major proposals. The midday meeting at Mona Vale Memorial Hall was organised by Save Our Suburb Mona Vale. Organiser John David said the NSW Government had "firmly stacked the deck in favour of developers" by removing council from parts of the planning process and shortening the community submission period for State Significant Developments from 30 days to 14 days. David contrasted that window with the time available to applicants to prepare extensive development material. "The developer gets a year, maybe two years, to put together several thousand pages of submission, and we get 14 days," he said. He told the meeting that several proposals he described as "State Significant Disasters" were currently on the table, although the specific developments were not identified. Residents were encouraged to make...