Sweeping planning changes set to transform some of Sydney's oldest suburbs are due to take effect next month.
Most houses within walking distance of those four stations are single dwellings sitting on large blocks. The most senior bureaucrat overseeing the changes is NSW Department of Planning Secretary Kiersten Fishburn.Her job is to help the state government achieve its target of delivering more than 300,000 new homes by 2029.
"If you're going from six storeys, you'd actually be going to about seven and a half," Ms Fishburn said.St Ives resident Michael Clayden is of a generation increasingly shut out of the housing market because of low supply and high prices. Belinda Harrison, a self-confessed baby boomer, said she supported the more density but not massive high-rises.
Expected to take effect in the middle of the year, the changes would cover much of the inner west, including historic Haberfield.The entire suburb, which contains houses dating back to 1901, has been declared a heritage conservation area by the inner west council. According to Ms Fishburn, the new regulations forbid councils from refusing a development application "on the grounds of height alone".