The race to build more housing in Sydney’s outer suburbs has resulted in some hastily constructed suburbs. Along with new homes, developers are being asked to build new roads. But a quirk in the planning controls has allowed developers to build streets that are only half-finished.
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00:00Hundreds of apartments accessed by half a road.
00:06Residents in this northwest Sydney street say they're victims of bureaucracy gone mad.
00:11A situation like this is completely absurd.
00:14Peak hour is a delicate dance as two way traffic squeezes down a one lane street.
00:20I have to be constantly scared of like is my car going to graze like the fences over there
00:26and I've gotten into fights before as well.
00:29When I started in the first stage I was like is it actually the single road where you have to go every day?
00:35Housing developers are building some public roads in NSW as part of their financial contributions.
00:41But they only have to build one lane.
00:44A developer that buys across the road here will build the other side.
00:48But the farmer who owns this land isn't selling.
00:51Until this property beside us has been sold there's no prospect at all of the road being created on the other side.
00:57Half finished roads have popped up in several suburbs
01:00with both state and local governments pointing the finger at each other.
01:05The Blacktown City Council says it sympathises with residents
01:09but it can't force landowners to sell to developers
01:12and it can't force developers to build two sides of a street.
01:17The council says it's just following a road layout from the planning department.
01:21The planning department says it's a matter for the Blacktown Council
01:25and the Deputy Premier blames her predecessors.
01:28We are making our way through playing a game of whack-a-mole basically
01:32in trying to fix the infrastructure that these people in our communities in North Western Sydney have always deserved.
01:39While some locals have a neighbouring development underway
01:43this street could be waiting a while for its other half.