Sand Mine Rezoning Paves Way for 4300 NSW Homes
Plans have been launched to rezone 210ha of land at a former sand mine on the Kurnell Peninsula into a coastal community with up to 4300 homes.
The New South Wales government has placed a State-Assessed Rezoning Proposal on public exhibition as it progresses the development.
The beachfront site is 6km east of the Cronulla CBD. More than 50 per cent of the land, or 116ha, would be preserved for open space under the proposal, including three district parks, nine local parks, sports fields and 2km of publicly accessible beachfront along Bate Bay.
Residential, retail, tourism and open space uses have been proposed, including the delivery of 240 affordable homes and 7000sq m of retail and commercial space.
Building heights would range from three to 12 storeys, with upgrades to Captain Cook Drive proposed to improve traffic flow and emergency access.
Delivery would be staged over 20 years, timed to the sand mine’s closure and ongoing land remediation. The western portion of the site, already remediated, is earmarked as the town centre and first stage of development.
NSW planning and public spaces minister Paul Scully said the pending closure of the sand mine created a rare opportunity.
“This proposal envisions a vibrant new beachfront community with thousands of new homes, jobs and great open space in the Sutherland Shire,” Scully said.
Submissions are open via the NSW Planning Portal until May 11 2026.
Kurnell is one of nearly 70 state-led rezonings under way in New South Wales, with the broader program expected to unlock more than 236,000 homes and 167,000 jobs across the state.
A separate land audit released on April 1 by Property and Development NSW identified more than 400 homes across four surplus or underutilised government-owned sites, bringing the program’s cumulative total to more than 11,400 homes statewide.
Tallawong in Sydney’s north-west is the largest of the four parcels, with potential for up to 400 homes under existing mixed-use zoning close to Tallawong Metro Station.
Sites at Wahroonga on the North Shore and Menangle Park in south-western Sydney could yield a further 37 homes combined.
Lands and property minister Steve Kamper said the audit “continues to identify surplus Government-owned land that is ready to address the housing supply crisis”.
Across NSW, state-led rezonings are reshaping several precincts, including plans for the Bays West precinct 2km from the Sydney CBD targeting 8500 homes on former industrial harbour land, the Burwood North Metro rezoning which proposes up to 18,300 homes around a future Metro station, and a Homes NSW proposal at Bellambi in Wollongong that would deliver 2500 homes on an ageing social housing estate.
Four further precincts—Westmead South, Glenfield West, Tallawong Town Centre and Warwick Farm—were fast-tracked for rezoning in August 2025, with a combined potential for 11,000 homes.
