OPINION : Why the Eurobodalla needs a genuine Housing Strategy before it re-designs its towns
On 7 October 2025, online news Region Media reported that the draft Batemans Bay Masterplan consultation report and proposed Masterplan amendments would be considered by Eurobodalla Shire Council at its meeting on 28 October 2025. The Council has not confirmed this. The agenda for the meeting will be publicly available on the Council’s website from 22 October 2025.
While there is no evidence on the Council’s website that the Eurobodalla community has requested this project, the Council has been spruiking a Batemans Bay Masterplan on its website “to confirm a vision and guiding principles for future private and public development; and recommend height, density, infrastructure, and movement solutions”. Starting in August 2022, the Masterplan is scheduled for completion by early 2026. The Council’s proposed Masterplan was made publicly available for comment from 14 April to 30 June 2025.
If you looked at the artificial designs of the proposed new town centre in Batemans Bay, you’d be forgiven for asking, why is the Council proposing such ‘over the top’ development enabling up to 100-metre-high sky-scrapers and a redevelopment of much of the CBD? The proposed redevelopment is on a scale suitable for Darling Harbour in Sydney, Docklands in Melbourne, or the Belconnen Town Centre in Canberra.
So what is this scale of development doing in Batemans Bay? Why is the Council changing our planning rules to allow skyscrapers on land less than 10 metres above sea level already (with sea levels rising)? And, why is it proposing redevelopment of the Batemans Bay CBD on land prone to sea level rise, storm surges, soft coastal substrates and dune and coastal erosion? It doesn’t make sense.
To try to make sense of it all, let’s have a look at the facts.
The NSW Government’s, Local Housing Strategy Guideline 2018, recommends a straightforward step-by-step guide to producing a local housing strategy. The guidelines prescribe meaningful opportunities for the community to contribute to its development, while councils must clearly communicate the community and stakeholder engagement to the public. The NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure must approve a local housing strategy first before considering planning proposals. It says, an approved local housing strategy will: (1) contain the information required in the Local Housing Strategy template to an acceptable standard; (2) demonstrate how housing supply will be sufficient to meet the needs of the future population and provide information in such a way that it is able to be independently verified; and (3) provide the evidence base for a supporting planning proposal, if required. The NSW Government’s, Local Government Housing Kit, is available to further help councils develop and implement their housing strategies.
So where is our draft Eurobodalla Housing Strategy to support the Council’s Batemans Bay Masterplan proposal?
According to the Council’s website, the draft Housing Strategy has been in development since October 2022. Due for completion by mid 2025, the draft Housing Strategy was available for public comment from 29 May to 10 July 2024 and garnered around 100 submissions. On 19 November 2024, the Council considered the draft and carried a motion “to allow further work to develop strategies and mechanisms to facilitate and deliver affordable housing, including social and community housing and housing that is affordable for the local workforce to buy or rent”. Councillors Johnson, Mayne, Pollock, Turner and Winslade voted for the motion, while Councillors Hatcher, Babington, Schulz and Constable voted against it. The Council’s last update to the community was in April 2025, after which, the community has not been informed.
Other local councils in our region are years ahead of the Eurobodalla by already finalising and implementing their local housing strategies. This has enabled them to access NSW and Australian Government support for affordable housing, such as, the Housing Australia Future Fund Facility, and the NSW Social and Affordable Housing Fund and Community Housing Innovation Fund. While the Eurobodalla Shire Council focuses on town masterplanning, the community is left waiting for the completion of its draft Housing Strategy, and continues to miss out on funding for social, community and affordable housing.
Cid Mateo
Bingie / Brinja