THE PATCH · NSW COUNCILS3 COUNCILS7 INVESTIGATIONS
The Patch
National power is one story. The other is being cooked at the council: the council that is also the developer, the height sold through a planning agreement, the tower approved by the court instead of the chamber. The Patch reads the budget PDFs, the planning portals and the recorded votes, one council at a time. Every claim rests on a public document, and the rort is the mechanism, never a person.
Fig. 01 / 3 LGAs and their documented decisions
01 / Illawarra
Shellharbour: a growth region where the council is also the developer, and where the state is paying to speed approvals up.
02 / Eastern Sydney
Randwick and Waverley: where state density incentives, planning panels and the court reshape the coast, storey by storey.
CASE FILE · LOCAL · EASTERN SYDNEYOngoing · unresolved
Randwick
Beds instead of homes, and height sold through planning agreements with the affordable-housing return banked as cash: how state incentives reshape the eastern suburbs.
3 investigationsRandwick City Council · The Land and Environment Court · Deemed Refusal
CASE FILE · LOCAL · EASTERN SYDNEYOngoing · unresolved
Waverley
Manufactured development potential and towers approved by the court, not the council: how the biggest calls in Bondi and Bronte leave the elected chamber.
2 investigationsWaverley Council · Sydney Eastern City Planning Panel · The Land and Environment Court
Fig. 01Source: patch.json + case files · LGA outlines from OpenStreetMap via Nominatim, simplified (ODbL)As of 2026‑09Hand-curated