The NSW Government released the ‘Sydney Plan’ in late 2025. Feedback on the draft plan was open until 27 February 2026.
The Cooks River Alliance, along with other catchment groups (Sydney Coastal Councils Group, Parramatta River Catchment Group & Georges Riverkeeper) made a joint submission on the draft plan, welcoming its intent but highlighting significant gaps in how the Plan addresses urban rivers and their pivotal role in ensuring healthy, humane, and resilient cities.
These significant gaps include:
- utilising these rivers as natural green corridors for passive and active recreation,
- managing flood and inundation risk in a climate uncertain future and;
- the importance of stormwater management and Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) in protecting waterway health.
The letter urges the NSW Government to reinstate dedicated objectives for waterways and stormwater, align the Plan with existing state water strategies, and include specific actions to integrate Integrated Water Cycle Management (IWCM) and WSUD into strategic and precinct planning. Read the joint submission HERE.
The Cooks River Alliance emphasises that stormwater systems and blue–green networks are essential infrastructure for a resilient, liveable and climate‑ready Sydney, and calls for stronger governance, clearer direction, and mandatory water-related planning requirements before the Plan is finalised.
Affordable housing supply
The urgency to increase housing delivery risks a shift from well‐designed and genuinely affordable homes to inadequately planned, lower‐quality housing. Such outcomes may generate longer‐term social, economic and environmental challenges that undermine the intent of the Plan, including long-term undermined liveability, concentration of social disadvantage, overwhelmed sewage and flood management systems, and increased poverty due to rising insurance premiums and insurance retreat.
Blue‐green infrastructure and waterways
The draft Plan does not yet provide sufficient guidance or actions to close the growing gap between Greater Sydney and other major Australian cities in realising the full potential of its urban waterways. This is particularly so for Sydney’s waterways beyond Sydney Harbour. Examples such as Karrawirra Parri (River Torrens) in Adelaide, the Brisbane River, and Birrarung (Yarra River) demonstrate what is possible when waterways are elevated as core organising elements of urban resilience and vibrancy.
Natural hazard management and climate resilience
The draft Plan provides limited direction for responding to natural hazards and the increasing uncertainties associated with climate change, which may constrain Greater Sydney’s ability to build long‐term resilience. This reveals deeper issues in current NSW natural hazard management and climate resilience policy frameworks, which are either piecemeal (focusing only on specific regions) or inadequate (e.g. the NSW’s Coastal Management Program that appears to exclude catchment processes outside the areas mapped as coastal zones).
To address these concerns and support the development of a more robust and integrated Sydney Plan, the Alliance has provided targeted recommendations. Read the Cooks River Alliance submission HERE.