Dual Occupancy - Approved in principle! (Labor opposes)

June 2025

At Council’s marathon June meeting that went until past midnight, and with a full and very patient gallery who waited for three hours for this item to be debated, Council approved my Notice of Motion to permit Detached Dual Occupancies after seven years of delay and disappointment with our moribund LEP process. There’s some way to go yet. The proposal now needs to be presented to the local Planning Panel, the State government’s gateway process, and be placed on public exhibition. Despite this, staff admit that this change may still beat the LEP to the finish line, which is precisely my intention. Thanks to the passionate public speakers, and to my colleagues who endorsed this almost unanimously, with the exception of the Labor Councillor Amanda Kotlash.

August 2025 Update

After some work by Council staff, we dispatched the ‘Planning Proposal’ I advanced at the June meeting to give landowners in RU1, RU2, RU4, RU5, C3 and C4 zones additional flexibility to site detached Dual Occupancies on their land, under one title (no subdivision). I am very pleased that the Chamber voted unanimously (this time) to advance it to the State Government’s “Gateway” process. The waiting game began, but I remained confident that the State government will look favourably on it.

Then, I got unexpected calls from two old friends and colleagues. The first was Mark Hornshaw, a former Hawkesbury lad and now Councillor on Port Macquarie-Hastings Council. He had seen what we started in the Hawkesbury and wanted to move a similar motion at his Council. He did, and it passed.

The next call was from John Ruddick. Mark, John and I are all ex-Libs, with John going on to unexpected but pleasing success being elected to the NSW Upper House as a member of the Libertarian Party. He felt that what we started in the Hawkesbury is such a good idea, it should be implemented state wide. I was chuffed.

The “Select Committee on Rural Housing and Second Dwellings Reform” was supported unanimously by both major parties and the crossbench, making the opposition of our sole local Labor Councillor even more baffling.

It has recently held both hearings in Parliament House and a site visit to the Hawkesbury, which I was pleased to attend in order to advocate for the reform. Here is our Council’s Manager of Strategic Planning, Andrew Kearns, appearing before a hearing on December 20th.

December 2025 Update

Council were advised on the 13th of November that the Planning Proposal initiated by my motion has been conditionally approved. Councillors were not informed; I was advised by local planning expert Troy Myers (and a great advocate for this reform) that the approval was up on the NSW Planning Portal.

I am heartened by this quote from the gateway approval:

“The Department concurs with the Local Planning Panel’s assessment that the planning
proposal has strategic and site-specific merit, provided further consideration is given to
(amongst other things) land use conflict is appropriately addressed; the preparation of a
comprehensive new development control plan chapter to assist in guiding appropriate
future development; and, demonstration that the proposal aligns with the recently
completed Hawkesbury Nepean Flood Study (Reconstruction Authority) (June 2024).
• On balance, the planning proposal holds social and economic benefits.

Subject to conditions being met, it is the Department’s assessment that environmental
impacts can be prevented or appropriately managed.
• Further, subject to conditions being met, the proposal is not necessarily inconsistent with
the Regional Plan, District Plan and local planning policies and strategies.
• A planning proposal is the appropriate pathway to achieve the intended outcomes of the
planning proposal, subject to conditions.”

 

January 2026 Update

On January 2nd the ABC News highlighted property owners in the Hawkesbury who want more flexibility for Detached Dual Occupancy.

This print article accompanied the video story.

So what happens next?

Council will do work between January and August 2026 to satisfy the additional requirements stipulated by the Department of Planning. The final version will be put out for public exhibition and comment from agencies. The Department has imposed a deadline of August 2026 to finalise the matter. I will be asking staff how well we can beat this deadline.

Looking back – How we got here

I’ll close by pointing you to an earlier video explainer and post I made where I laid out the issues and where we needed to move to.

In September 2021 I posted the following video and website post:

I offer this to illustrate how we pursue important or complex reforms. It takes a while, and takes persistence and a lot of networking. I am hopeful of a good result in 2026.