Jack Nicklaus Golf Course among potential NSW developments putted back to councils for approval

The NSW state government has rejected the request for fast-tracking approval of the 240 hectare Jack Nicklaus Golf Course housing project by Capital Corporation at Rothbury.

The review has also knocked out a request to fast-track 142 hectares at The Vintage owned by Stevens Holdings. They will now progress as a normal development application through local councils.

The two applications were among the 43 submitted earlier this year by landowners after being invited by the state government which indicated worthy projects would bypass councils processes for rezoning if deemed suitable for some of the thousands of new houses needed on Sydney’s fringe and inner metropolitian.

In what was deemed a radical centralised approached to quickly increase home building numbers, the government initiative was based on claims Sydney has been building barely two-thirds of the 25,000 homes needed each year.

The government established a committee, run by the Premier's Department, to assess the nominated sites in January.

The 43 landowner-nominated sites, which identified more than 12,000 hectares of property, mainly on Sydney's fringe, enough land for more than 100,000 homes, has now been cut back to 31 sites. The former Clydeburn Marshalling Yards site covering 14 hectares at Auburn has been dropped from the list, along with Mir Group’s 30-hectare Kellerman Drive estate at St Helen’s Park, which locals claim is home to koalas, swamp wallabies and wallaroos. But Mir’s controversial plans for development of a 164-hectare development in the Blairmount area has made it to round two of a fast-tracked application process.

Assessment is also continuing on all 10 sites nominated in Wollondilly Shire, all four applications in Camden and all two applications in The Hills Shire.

Greens MP David Shoebridge says the government scheme was gifting developers "spot rezoning opportunities and cash windfalls" rather than conducting strategic planning for housing near infrastructure.

The general manager of Wollondilly Shire Council, Les McMahon, said developer proposals covered more than 4,000 hectares for rezoning, with only three sites in the council's new growth strategy.

"Under our growth strategy we would get 10,000 more sites [houses] over 20 years… This proposal increases that by another 26,000 [houses]," McMahon told the local press.

Stephen Albin, chief executive of developer lobby group the Urban Development Institute of Australia, hailed the scheme on its announcement as a stimulus that would fix up the massive supply problems in NSW for the last decade.