ResidentialLindsay SaundersThu 27 Aug 26
Mosman Council Endorses Own Masterplan to Shape Higher Density
The Mosman Council has unanimously endorsed a draft masterplan designed to accommodate about 4700 more homes while reshaping where and how development happens across the Sydney lower north shore municipality.
Councillors at an Extraordinary Council Meeting on Wednesday night voted to advance the Mosman Masterplan and a separate Affordable Housing Contributions Scheme to the NSW Government for review.
The masterplan was developed as a local response to the NSW Government’s Low and Mid-Rise Housing Policy, which has prompted a wave of higher-density development applications across Mosman.
The council previously said it needed to deliver at least 4700 homes over the long term under the state’s housing reforms, while seeking an alternative approach to the blanket application of the LMR controls.
The final draft follows what the council described as one of the largest community engagement programs undertaken at Mosman, with thousands of submissions received during the early consultation process. Twenty-five community members also addressed councillors at Wednesday night’s meeting.
The plan directs additional housing capacity towards selected areas rather than applying increased density uniformly across the municipality.
Earlier versions of the masterplan put forward two approaches for accommodating the growth.
The “Low and Wide” option proposed development ranging from three to 20 storeys across about 13 per cent of Mosman, while the “High and Narrow” option concentrated growth across about 9 per cent of the LGA, with buildings of up to 28 storeys focused on Military Road, Spit Road and Spit Junction.
The council subsequently refined the plan after community feedback and further technical work.
The endorsed masterplan is supported by studies covering urban design, transport, heritage, infrastructure, environmental sustainability, biodiversity, flooding, stormwater management, affordable housing and community feedback.
It also proposes mechanisms to secure community benefits from future development, including affordable housing, upgraded civic and community facilities, active transport connections, public open space, public art, urban greening and streetscape improvements.
The accompanying Affordable Housing Contributions Scheme will establish a framework for securing affordable housing as development occurs.
The council said the masterplan would allow housing growth to be redistributed through locally informed planning controls while responding to Mosman’s heritage, landscape and environmental constraints.
The planning proposal will now be submitted to the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure for assessment.
If approved by the department, it will proceed to formal public exhibition, giving residents another opportunity to review the proposed planning controls and make submissions before any final amendments are considered.
The process comes as Mosman continues to face pressure from the state’s LMR policy, with a number of larger apartment projects already progressing through the planning system.
Mosman’s first major apartment project approved under the LMR policy was an eight-storey development in Heydon Street, which was described as the suburb’s largest apartment approval in more than 50 years.
The masterplan is therefore likely to become a key planning document for determining where future density is concentrated and how development contributes to infrastructure and community outcomes across the municipality.
