development · Randwick City Council
Randwick renews student-housing moratorium push as Kingsford agreement passes
More than 5,000 student-accommodation and boarding-house dwellings have been approved in Kingsford and Kensington, prompting Randwick Council to renew its call for a moratorium while approving a three-site planning agreement.
More than 5,000 commercial student-accommodation and boarding-house dwellings have already been approved in Randwick’s Kingsford and Kensington town centres, as Randwick City Council approved a planning agreement for a three-site Kingsford development and renewed its call for a moratorium on further projects.
The Voluntary Planning Agreement covers 399-405 Anzac Parade, 2-4 Sturt Street and 19-21 Bunnerong Road under development application DA/591/2025. Council approved the agreement under section 7.5 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 and authorised the general manager to make minor drafting or administrative amendments before it is executed.
The resolution said planned capacity for more than 4,000 additional dwellings in the two town centres had been taken up almost exclusively by commercial student-accommodation and boarding-house developments, with more than 5,000 already approved.
Councillors said the micro-studios were not affordable to students or people on low or very low incomes, were not accessible to people with disability and were not suitable for families. They also said the developments were “permanently locking out capacity for diverse private dwellings” in accessible locations across the Randwick local government area.
Council will continue advocating to NSW Planning Minister Paul Scully for a moratorium on commercial student and boarding-house accommodation in Randwick. It also asked for urgent measures to build more public housing and for private developments and student accommodation to be affordable, accessible and suited to the area’s diverse and growing community.
The resolution also calls for the Kingsford-to-Kensington developments to include active street frontages and 100 per cent retail and commercial space on the ground plane.
The agreement was carried unanimously. Councillors Daniel Said and Marea Wilson, who had declared significant non-pecuniary interests in the item, left the chamber and took no part in the debate or vote.
Council’s moratorium request is an advocacy position, not an immediate local ban. Council will write to the planning minister, while the site-specific agreement proceeds towards execution.
Reference minutes
Randwick City Council, Ordinary Council meeting of 28 July 2026.
Key facts from the minutes
- The Voluntary Planning Agreement covers 399-405 Anzac Parade, 2-4 Sturt Street and 19-21 Bunnerong Road, Kingsford.
- Council approved the agreement under section 7.5 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979.
- Councillors noted that more than 5,000 commercial student-accommodation and boarding-house dwellings had already been approved in the Kingsford and Kensington town centres.
- The resolution called for a moratorium on further commercial student and boarding-house accommodation in the Randwick local government area.
- Council said the micro-studios were not affordable to students or people on low or very low incomes, accessible to people with disability or suitable for families.
- The agreement was approved unanimously, with Cr Said and Cr Wilson absent from the debate and vote after declaring interests.
Why it matters
- The agreement advances a specific Kingsford development while Randwick Council presses NSW to change the housing mix in the Kingsford and Kensington town centres, where it says more than 5,000 student-accommodation and boarding-house dwellings have already been approved.