Review of Blacktown City Council's Contributions Plan no 24 - Schofields Precinct

IPART has finalised its assessment of Blacktown City Council’s revised Contributions Plan No. 24 for Schofields. This plan consists of two parts:

• CP24L – Schofields (Land), and
• CP24W – Schofields (Works).

The plan applies to the development in the Schofields Precinct within Sydney’s North West Growth Area.

Our final recommendations

We recommend the council comprehensively review the plan within 18 months due to:

• the higher than previously forecast development yield and population,
• major upcoming Planning Proposals for the precinct, and
• changes associated with the North West Growth Centre Stormwater Management Strategy Review.

Such a review would also allow the council to update estimates of the cost of works using the best available information.

In the short term, we recommend the council:

• remove land and works for some stormwater infrastructure,
• make small adjustments to land and plan administration costs, and

use a revised population estimate for the apportionment of transport, open space, community services and the E2 Conservation Zone costs, and for the calculation of contribution rates.

These changes would reduce the total costs in the plan by $21.4 million (8.2%), from $262.6 million to $241.2 million, and would reduce per dwelling contributions between 19% and 25% for the main (ie, Eastern) catchment.

IPART assesses council’s contribution plans that propose local infrastructure contributions above a threshold amount. The maximum contributions in CP24 exceed the $30,000 per lot or dwelling threshold that applies to the plan.

We have assessed CP24 against the criteria in the Department of Planning and Environment (DPE)’s Practice Note: Local Infrastructure Contributions (January 2019). We have based our assessment on information in the plan, and further information provided by the council.

IPART has provided its final report on the plan to the council and the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces (the Minister).

If the council addresses the Minister’s requests, it can charge up to $45,000 per dwelling until 30 June 2020 and apply for funding under the Local Infrastructure Growth Scheme for any additional amounts. From 1 July 2020, it can charge the full contribution amount.