With the
release of the Greater Sydney Commission District Plans Urban Growth has released its long awaited Central to Eveleigh Urban Transformation Strategy.
The study has been finalised
without the promised transport study being undertaken. It has also been
finalised without the community having a chance to comment on it as initially
proposed. Also contrary to earlier undertakings that supporting studies would
be released – to date the study dealing with housing diversity and affordable
housing has not been released.
At a briefing
for agencies held by UrbanGrowth we were advised that any comments or concerns
about the Strategy should be addressed directly to the Greater Sydney
Commission which would pass any comments on to it. As far as UrbanGrowth is
concerned the strategy is finalised – future discussions, including about
planning controls, will happen in the next phase of discussions around the
Master Planning of particular precincts.
There are now
only five precincts – the Central Station end has been given to Transport
for NSW to handle – Waterloo public housing will be led by Land and
Housing Corporation (LAHC) as will South Eveleigh when LAHC decide to
develop this site. The North and South Eveleigh sites are now referred to as Redfern
to Eveleigh. The Newtown end of North Eveleigh is referred to as the North
Eveleigh precinct – it already has an approved concept plan that
UrbanGrowth will seek to vary to redevelop this site in line with the plans it
has developed. The remaining site is the Redfern Station precinct which
also includes the eastern end of North Eveleigh. More planning will be
undertaken in 2017 for Redfern station however the strategy shows “Key Move One
– Renew Redfern Station” remains “subject to approvals and funding
availability”. The bulk of the eastern end of North Eveleigh remains of
operational interest to rail so much work needs to be done before the Redfern
Station Precinct progresses.
The
announcement of Waterloo Station has been injected into the strategy as “Key
Move 5” pushing out the earlier “Promote live-work environments” to elsewhere
in the strategy – thus keeping the number of key moves at ten.
Residents in the area are encouraged to read the
UrbanGrowth document and raise any concerns they have about it as the content
of this report may be used in the finalisation of the statutory district plans,
so any problems with UrbanGrowth’s strategy needs to be highlighted during the
exhibition.
Greater Sydney Commission (GSC)
district plans
You can download
the plan for our Central District (covering our local area) and related
materials from www.greater.sydney/central-district
– the direct link to the statutory Central Plan PDF is http://gsc-public.s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/draft_central_district_plan_0.pdf
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At the outset |
The pdf of the
district plan is searchable so we suggest you search for your suburb and
surrounding suburbs (or other keywords of interest) to get a quick idea of what
is specifically mentioned about your area of interest. The document covers many
planning areas so while a quick search will find references to your query you
should also look generally at the plan to understand what it is covering.
One of the new
initiatives in the Greater Sydney Commission District Plans is to recognise the
importance of Social Housing and to start planning for Affordable Housing for
family incomes that are low (up to $67,600) and very low (up to $42,300). The
Affordable Housing target of 5-10% of uplift however depends on viability. It
has been attacked by affordable housing proponents as being too low compared to
what is happening in other cities. On the other side the announcement has been
attacked by developer groups as being unnecessary or as driving up housing
prices.
Sydney Alliance
members joined with Shelter NSW and Tenants Union in an Open Letter top
Mike Baird on Affordable Housing asking for a higher affordable housing
target. Sydney Alliance is also encouraging their members to use the district
plan exhibition over the next few months to lobby for an increased target for
affordable housing. Section 4.4 in the Central District Plan on pages 99 – 105
deals with improving housing diversity and affordability.
The district plan exhibition
is on until end of March 2017 and you can make a submission on the plan and any concerns about the Central to Eveleigh Urban Transformation Strategy on line.