By ANNA USHER

NSW Planning Minister Paul Scully has taken aim at Mosman Council, accusing it of “making excuses” to prevent new housing developments in the suburb.

The rebuke follows Council’s resistance to the government’s “pattern book” plan, aimed at fast-tracking low to mid-rise housing across suburban Sydney, using a catalogue of pre-approved designs.

Scully fired back this week, telling Mosman Collective that the pattern book homes are world-class and far from generic.

“This just sounds like the latest excuse to try and stop housing on the North Shore,” he said.

“I find it staggering that people think that housing designs from an international architectural competition would ruin the streets and suburbs of the North Shore.

“Would they prefer to live next to ugly homes instead?

“The Pattern Book homes are high quality, energy efficient and customisable designs that would look great on any street or any suburb.”

Mosman Deputy Mayor Michael Randall remains unconvinced.

“As a Council, we’ve been working alongside our community to understand the implications for Mosman and work towards the best possible solutions to something we didn’t invite but nonetheless have to respond to,” he said.

“We do know that these new controls will override Council’s planning controls and allow higher and denser development than is currently permitted.

“We’re not trying to stop housing, but a one-size-fits-all approach is not the answer.”