Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Greens have strongly criticised an announcement by the Liberal NSW government to fast-track housing development in Cherrybrook, pointing out that years of rampant development has done nothing to solve the city’s housing affordability crisis.

Greens candidate Emma Heyde said, “The NSW government’s answer to housing affordability is more supply but if that was the right solution how come after ten years of out-of-control development Sydney remains one of the least affordable cities in the world with record-breaking housing prices?”

“Once again there has been no meaningful consultation with the community and no coherent urban planning other than ‘sell, baby, sell’. We need a planning system that puts people, places and the planet first – not the demands of developers and the big banks that are funding them.”

Cherrybrook was announced as one of 15 “Priority Precincts” that will be “fast-tracked” into 30,000 new homes with “accelerated rezoning and more diverse developments” during the release of the state government’s 2017/18 budget on Tuesday.

Ms Heyde said Cherrybrook residents were furious. “The people of Cherrybrook deserve answers: how is the government planning to fix local road congestion? How will this development impact our local schools, sport facilities and other public facilities? Does the government realise peak-hour trains to the city are jammed packed as it is?”

Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Greens have pushed for solutions that have the consensus of the community and said the government should consider removing negative gearing and discouraging housing speculation to lower the entry barrier for potential homeowners, building actually affordable housing and discouraging vacant and under occupied dwellings.

“Housing supply isn’t the problem – the real problem is the government’s urban planning system – or should I say total lack thereof,” said Ms Heyde, Greens candidate for Ward C.

“There’s a saying, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. And yet that is exactly what the NSW government is doing: letting the developers run riot and expecting this will actually improve housing affordability when all it’s done is led to sky-high housing prices.”