Kiama Deputy Mayor Melissa Matters says Council is determined to solve the area’s housing issues but is growing increasingly frustrated by a lack of collaboration from federal and state governments.

Matters, Mayor Cameron McDonald, CEO Jane Stroud and director of planning, environment and communities Ed Paterson represented Council at the Australian Property Institute conference last week at The Pavilion, the first time the event has been held in Kiama.

They spoke about Council’s achievements, challenges and the progress in confronting the property issue in Kiama.

Matters told The Bugle that Council had no problem with the NSW Government imposing housing targets of 900 new homes by 2029 but “we’ve also got employment land to think about”.

“The LGA is already extremely short on employment land,” she said.

“It's OK for the state government to want this many houses but without upgrades to infrastructure - water, sewage works, road infrastructure connections, on and off ramps to freeways - it's impossible.

“We can't have growth without infrastructure. And we can't have infrastructure without growth.

“I just don't think there's enough collaboration between state and federal governments with local governments.”

Matters comes from a small business background and said “if we didn't communicate and collaborate in small business, we just wouldn't survive”.

“There would not be many people that disagree that we desperately need more housing. And we've got a council that is very proactive in that area. And we're very, very keen to work with people, keen to work with state government, keen to work with developers,” she added.

“We've got five housing blocks in Glenbrook Drive, which is a two-minute drive out of town.

And the state government have a covenant placed on that. Five blocks from 30 years ago. And it was because it's near a quarry but that's no longer applicable.

“Council has tried for two years to get that lifted with this state Labor government.

“It could virtually have signs put on it that said housing blocks coming soon. They're all powered. They're all ready to go, ready to build.”

Mayor Cameron McDonald at the vacant residential lots. Photo: Kiama Council

McDonald said covenant was imposed on the five lots of residential land near Spring Creek in 1991 which stops anyone from constructing any homes on these fully serviced lots.

“Australia is in the grip of a housing crisis and Kiama Municipality has been issued a NSW Government target to build 900 new homes by 2029, which we’re obliged to comply with,” he said.

“Further, we’ve been ordered to improve our financial sustainability by the NSW Government. It makes no sense at all that we have five build-ready blocks here that we’re not able to utilise, preventing a number of family homes from being built and annual rates from being collected.”

Kiama Council has written on numerous occasions to the NSW Government over the years requesting the covenant be lifted. In August 2022 Council received a letter from the previous NSW Government Minister for Regional Transport and Roads advising that he would not lift the covenant.

Last November, Mayor McDonald and members of Council’s executive team met with the NSW Minister for Roads and Minister for Regional Transport Jenny Aitchison and repeated the request.

“It’s absurd that we’ve been issued a Performance Improvement Order by the NSW Government instructing us to improve our finances, and yet that same government is preventing us from doing just that,” McDonald added.

“Times have changed, quarrying practices have changed. We are divesting surplus land where we can and we want to provide much-needed homes for families. We call on the NSW Government to lift this 30-year-old covenant so we can move forward and continue our journey towards financial sustainability.”.

Matters is concerned that there has not been any new housing estates in the LGA for more than a decade.

“I get people saying to me where are my kids going to live? I think people are sick and tired of it,” she said.

“We've pushed our young kids out of town. And I know not everybody can afford to buy in our LGA. But there's also nowhere for people to move into some really nice property in towards town with some lovely apartments. We need infill in our town centres.”

She believes the draft Local Housing Strategy can set Kiama up well for the future with a mix of housing options.

“You've got to give variety. And I think there needs a lot of work and consultation before we sort of eat too much into the rolling green hills. We're talking 30-40 years of planning here. And if we didn't include a little bit of urban expansion, I think that would be a bit naive of us if we didn't think we had to consider that,” she said.

“I'm a bit worried people think Bombo Quarry is the magic bullet. Well, that's not for possibly 20 years down the track either.

“We don't have to go to the rolling green hills. But then are there lifestyles for young people that want that? Are there people that want an acre and want a bit of space for their family?

“What do the people want? That's why we're encouraging people to engage with this local housing strategy. It's not about what I want or other councillors. It's about what the community wants.

“If we don't plan now, we will get substandard developments and the infrastructure won't be there to facilitate that. And that's my biggest concern about the infrastructure around it.

“I still would like very much to see Kiama keep its own identity and we don't have to be the same as Shellharbour or Nowra. We're very different.

“It doesn't mean that we shouldn't be giving our young people somewhere to live, but we don't need to be overdeveloped as well.

“There's people that actually moved out of town with their first house that are ready to come back now, but we're not giving them anything to come back to.”