Kurnell Peninsula: 4,300 Homes on a Single Site

A NSW Government state-assessed rezoning proposal for 210 hectares of Kurnell Peninsula: up to 4,300 homes including 240 affordable, building heights 3 to 12 storeys, 116 hectares of open space and a 20-year staged delivery aligned with sand mine closure and remediation. On public exhibition until 5pm Monday 11 May 2026.

The NSW Government released a state-assessed rezoning proposal for 210 hectares of Kurnell Peninsula for public exhibition on 10 April 2026. The site (a former sand mine, approximately six kilometres east of Cronulla CBD) would, if rezoned, deliver up to 4,300 new homes over a 20-year staged programme aligned with the closure of the sand mine and remediation of the underlying land.

The proposal in numbers

• 210 hectares of beachfront land on Kurnell Peninsula.
• Up to 4,300 new homes, including 240 affordable homes.
• Building heights between 3 and 12 storeys.
• 116 hectares set aside for open space, more than half the site.
• Three district parks and nine local parks, plus sports fields.
• Two kilometres of public beachfront along Bate Bay.
• 7,000 sqm of retail and commercial space.
• Upgrades to Captain Cook Drive for traffic flow and emergency access.

Staging and timing

Delivery is staged over 20 years, aligned with the sand mine's closure and the site's remediation. The western portion of the peninsula has already been remediated and is identified as the first-stage town centre. The remainder of the site is sequenced behind further remediation works.

Public exhibition

The proposal is on public exhibition for 28 days. Submissions close at 5pm on Monday 11 May 2026, and are lodged through the NSW Planning Portal. The proposal is being assessed under the State-Assessed Rezoning pathway, which means assessment sits with the Department rather than Sutherland Shire Council.

What submissions tend to carry weight on a state-assessed rezoning

• Traffic and emergency-access modelling tied to the proposed Captain Cook Drive upgrades: the peninsula has limited road access, and evacuation modelling tends to attract close scrutiny.
• Sequencing and conditionality: submissions that link housing release to remediation milestones rather than calendar dates can shape the staging conditions.
• Open space delivery: the proposal commits more than half the site to open space; submissions that tie that commitment to enforceable delivery conditions are typically more persuasive than submissions that merely endorse or oppose the headline.
• Affordable housing: 240 affordable homes against 4,300 total is approximately 5.6% of the yield. Submissions on whether that ratio is fixed or floor-only matter at the controls stage.

The substantive question for landowners and proximate communities is not whether the Peninsula will be developed (the strategic case for housing on a remediated sand mine within Sydney is plain) but how the controls are written and what they're conditioned on. The exhibition window is short. Submissions that engage with the controls in detail are the ones that materially shape the outcome.