Planning limbo leaves Levande villages withheld from sale for eight years

The planning delays frustrating the retirement living sector were on full display at the Property Council of Australia’s NSW Annual Retirement Living Forum. 

Fiona Russell, Area Manager NSW, Levande, said the operator has had two villages – Castle Ridge, 34km north-west of Sydney’s CBD, and Lourdes in Killara, 14km north-west – withheld from sale for eight years. 

“We’re awaiting a decision on one at the end of this month. The second we’re back to the drawing board with a new proposal that we’re having to submit. So obviously that’s very difficult,” she said. 

Levande is now targeting sites with existing consent. 

“Our tactic now is we are looking at sites that have an existing consent, and how we can modify that to become a retirement village. We’re piggybacking on other people who’ve done the hard work, essentially, to be able to bring things through a bit quicker.” 

Simon Fawssett, COO at RetireAustralia, said a Lane Cove site, 9km northwest of Sydney’s CBD, had been on the books when he joined the company seven years ago. 

“We’re still trying to close out the planning elements. It is a nightmare. Our costs change over that time. We find Sydney really, really difficult – to find sites that we can afford and to have confidence that we can get a planning approval in a timely manner.” 

By contrast, he said, RetireAustralia’s DA for an eight-storey tower in Brisbane was approved in just 45 days under a State-led process. 

Aveo CEO Tony Randello added that despite Queensland’s faster planning system, construction productivity is low. 

“If you look forward 12 months, it’s highly likely that it will cost you more to build in Queensland than it will in New South Wales. The closer we get to the 2032 Olympics, it’s just going to get out of control, isn’t it?”