Source: SJB Architecture
Member for Manly, James Griffin MP has slammed the extreme height and scale of Scentre Group’s Warringah Mall redevelopment, warning the proposal is a clear example of how the Minns Labor Government’s planning reforms sideline local communities and councils in favour of a one-size-fits-all approach to housing.
“The size of the site should negate the need for such extremely tall towers. We’re not Bondi Junction or Chatswood, and nor do we want to be. It’s also incredibly hard to support more density when this government have produced no plan for our public transport or investment to keep up with the new housing targets,” Mr Griffin said.
The proposal would deliver a significant increase in housing density in Brookvale, despite the Northern Beaches already facing major constraints across its road and public transport networks. The proposal also undermines years of hard work by Northern Beaches Council in developing its Brookvale Structure Plan, which was endorsed in 2023 following extensive community consultation.
To restore the voice of local communities in how homes are delivered and targets met, the NSW Liberals have announced the Low and Mid Rise (LMR) Alternate Plan Pathway. Under this approach, councils that can demonstrate they can meet their housing targets through a plan better suited to their community would be able to pursue that alternative.
This means developments such as the Warringah Mall proposal, which override local planning controls and fail to account for existing community concerns and infrastructure constraints, would be prevented, and instead a better, community-led outcome achieved.
Mr Griffin said the extreme height of the towers was a clear point of concern and demonstrated a development that was completely out of character with the local area and needed to go back to the drawing board.
“This sort of planning is what you get with a government that don’t want to invest in our local area. There’s a better way to do this. Our policy would put Council and the local community at the centre of decisions about where and how housing growth occurs,” Mr Griffin said.
“We need to build more homes, but sensible planning is not drawing a circle on a map and giving developers free rein to build as many apartments as possible.”
“Northern Beaches Council has already demonstrated that it can do this work. The Minns Government should be working with councils, not casting them aside to meet its own housing targets.”
Additionally, the cuts to our public transport and road infrastructure make this scale of development a nightmare for future congestion issues. The Northern Beaches Road Network Review, promised by the Minns Labor Government following the cancellation of Beaches Link and eagerly awaited by residents for more than two years, was supposed to provide a clear roadmap for addressing the infrastructure challenges facing the Northern Beaches.
Instead, the Review has failed to provide meaningful solutions to the existing pressures on our road network and does not adequately account for the scale of population growth that will result from the Government’s own planning reforms.
With no clear commitment from the Minns Government to deliver the road, public transport and other infrastructure upgrades needed to support this growth, the Northern Beaches simply cannot be expected to absorb significant increases in housing density without the infrastructure to match.
“I encourage all Northern Beaches Members of Parliament to support our alternative planning policy and stand up for a planning system that gives local communities and councils a genuine say in how their areas grow.”
Last modified: August 18, 2026
