Region. More housing on the fringe

The rate of development in established areas of Sydney would be cut in favour of development at the city fringe under a Coalition government, in a retreat from more than a decade of planning policy that has focused on increasing density to address population growth. Under questioning in Penrith yesterday during a leaders' forum on the future of Western Sydney, the Opposition Leader, Barry O'Farrell, said if he won next month's election he would alter the development mix in the government's metropolitan plan.