Traders in Purple ‘Not Deterred’ By Kiama No Vote

Traders in Purple, the Sydney-based and privately held developer-builder, remains undeterred after a rezoning application that would have allowed more than 1000 homes on a 114ha site along the Illawarra coastal strip was knocked back by the council.

The developers said they had spent three years preparing the rezoning proposal, which sought up to 1200 apartments and townhouses, a supermarket and medical centre on three rural lots west of the seaside town of Kiama, 130km south of Sydney.

But in mid-April Kiama Municipal Council voted unanimously not to support the rezoning application.

“[The application] is inconsistent with the Kiama Local Strategic Planning Statement 2020 and Illawarra and Shoalhaven Regional Plan 2041, and therefore does not satisfy the strategic merit and site-specific merit tests,” the successful council motion read.

Councillors resolved not to send the proposal to the New South Wales Department of Planning for Gateway Determination.

The decision comes as a blow to Traders in Purple, which had committed 25 per cent of homes within the development—to be known as Springside Hill—be given over to first-home buyers, essential workers and for affordable housing.

At least 150 of the homes were to be managed by the Illawarra Housing Trust, which has previously partnered with the developer on its Northsea project in Crown Street, Wollongong.  That project is now under construction.

▲ The NSW Planning Minister Paul Scully has urged Kiama council and Traders in Purple to find a solution.

“We are naturally disappointed, but we realise that Springside Hill is by far the largest proposal that the council has been called upon to consider,” Traders in Purple chief executive Brett Robinson said in a prepared statement.

“Together with our expert consultants, we have had the benefit of several years investigating solutions to the Kiama area’s current and future housing needs whereas Council has spent only a few weeks considering the merits of the Springside Hill proposal.”

Robinson said an average house in the region cost 15 times the median income and private rental consumed more than a third of wages.

“It is already forcing locals, particularly those wanting to buy a home and raise a family, to leave town, leaving Kiama without essential workers and the next generation of families,” he said.

Traders in Purple acquired the three lots that make up 114ha between September 2019 and December 2021, paying a total of $20.85 million, according to online documents.

Under concept plans the 20-year-long staged development—30km south of Wollongong and bordered by Long Brush Road, Greyleigh Drive and Jamberoo Road—would allow for future schools, shops, places of worship and recreation areas. About 40 per cent of the land will be preserved as open space.

▲ Traders in Purple has partnered with Illawarra Housing Trust before, on its Northsea project in Crown Street, Wollongong.

But the council pointed to a petition signed by 642 residents against the application.

In its own statement after the vote, Kiama’s chief executive Jane Stroud said the council was committed to working with all developers and proponents, as part of its Growth and Housing Strategy, “to have detailed, and deep conversations about which growth is right for our community”.

“Creating communities is more than just growing house numbers,” Stroud said.  “Council has proven it’s open to that conversation and we look forward to our ongoing discussion with Traders in Purple and other developers in our community.”

The council’s Growth and Housing Strategy is still being developed, with residents being asked to take part in an online survey to help in a five-stage process to “set out a clear plan to support the delivery of housing in our municipality and our region over the next 20 years”.

For its part, Traders in Purple is understood to want to re-address its Springside Hill project once a draft of the Growth and Housing Strategy goes on public exhibition later this year. 

Meanwhile, NSW planning minister Paul Scully, who is also the Member for Wollongong, has urged the Kiama council and Traders in Purple to find a solution.

“We have a shared responsibility to address the housing crisis in NSW and I think rather than a straight no, Kiama council should be working with the proponents on a proposal that could deliver more market and affordable housing in the local government area,” Scully said in the wake of the council decision.