REDWatch primer for Waterloo South Concept Plan and Rezoning Consultation – October 2025

by

If you are across the earlier
history then read the later material which covers recent information released
and REDWatch analysis. This primer on the Waterloo South Concept Plan covers
the following areas (click on the links to jump to that part of the document):

Introduction

The Planning Proposal (Rezoning)
determination in November 2022.

The Planning Proposal requires the
coming concept Plan

The Council – Homes NSW Voluntary
Planning Agreement (VPA)

Change of NSW Government Requirements

The Procurement and the successful
Stockland Consortium bid

Stockland Concept Plan and Zoning
application to Planning NSW

Planning NSW has set the Study
Requirements Stockland need to address

Homes NSW Waterloo South People and
Place Plan

Consultation starts 27 October 2025

Where this consultation fits

REDWatch Meeting on 6 November

Some Issues for consideration in the
Concept Plan

Introduction

In June 2025 REDWatch made
presentations to its monthly meeting and the Waterloo Redevelopment Group (WRG)
about the planning rules that were put in place when the Planning Proposal was
approved for Waterloo South in November 2022. It also covered what happened
after this. You can see a PDF of that presentation at REDWatch Refresher on the Waterloo South
Planning Proposal – 18 June 2025.

This document updates the content
of that presentation with what we have learnt up to the start of the October
2025 consultation.

Note – Throughout this document
REDWatch will use the term Planning NSW to refer to that part of the NSW
Government responsible for planning approvals. The name of the relevant
department has changed many times over the 20+ years of the proposed redevelopment
of Waterloo. Even over the timeframe covered by this document this function has
been carried out by the NSW “Department of Planning and Environment” and now
the “Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure”. At a website level
the relevant website is www.planning.nsw.gov.au
hence our use of Planning NSW.

The Planning Proposal
(Rezoning) determination in November 2022.

The Planning Proposal (rezoning)
set the set the initial planning controls – the rules – that the Stockland
consortium will use, or try and change, to create actual designs for the
buildings and public spaces in the precinct – you can see the main rules in the
REDWatch
Refresher on the Waterloo South Planning Proposal – 18 June 2025
presentation.

The rezoning required the
delivery of a more detailed Concept Plan for the entire Waterloo South area
before any other development application could be made. These requirements are
also set out in the presentation and the finalised documents below. This is the
Concept Plan that will be consulted on in late October.

One major change in the final
planning proposal was that the proposed 10% design excellence floor space bonus
would be to be in addition to the initial modelled proposal and not a part of
it. This increase was to only be in increased floor area but could not be in
increased height. This means the development will likely have 10% more housing
than that envisaged by the planning controls resulting in Stockland needing
changes to the planning controls to deliver the amount of floor space allowed.
This increases in floor area but not height potentially cuts into the space for
tree retention and new tree plantings. It also increases the likelihood that
the planning rules will need to be changed and that the design excellence
process may be changed also in the process.

You can find the final Planning
proposal documents at in
the final package of the Waterloo (South) Planning Page site. The key
documents are:

The Planning Proposal
requires the coming concept Plan

The
2022 rezoning required the delivery of a more detailed Concept Plan for the
entire Waterloo South area before any other development application could be
made. The
concept plan needs to show block by block where social, affordable and private
housing will be located as well as non-housing uses . It is this Concept Plan
that will be consulted on in late October 2025.

The Design Guide sets out what
the concept DA needs to cover in what it calls a Stage 1 development
application:

4.2. Stage
1 development application

  1. A Stage 1 (concept) development application is required
    for land that is owned or managed by the Land and Housing Corporation
    within Waterloo Estate (South) as of 1 January 2021.
  2. A Stage 1 (concept) development application is to:
    1. be informed by a detailed survey;
    2. subdivide existing landholdings to establish:

                                                 
i.     
streets, through-site links and parks, in accordance with
Figure 4: Land dedication and easements; and

                                                
ii.     
street blocks and building lots, in accordance with Figure
3: Street blocks and building lots;

    1. identify how the floor area is to be distributed
      across street blocks and building lots, including any floor space
      allocated for social housing, affordable housing, community facilities,
      childcare facilities, health care facilities and other non-residential
      uses. This allocation is to be generally in accordance with Table 1:
      Indicative floor area distribution on LAHC owned land, by street block,
      which provides an indicative allocation of floor space available under
      Sydney LEP 2012 across Waterloo Estate (South);
    2. resolve any flooding and contamination issues on the
      site, identifying any necessary flood and stormwater management works and
      remediation works and required contamination works to ensure flood and
      contamination risks are appropriately managed for new development,
      adjacent sites within the Estate, and in adjoining localities;
    3. provide an indicative staging plan and delivery
      sequence for development and the provision of public space, local
      infrastructure, flood and stormwater management works and remediation
      works;
    4. provide an updated Design Excellence Strategy if
      needed, that is, if the proposed pattern of subdivision, staging or built
      form distribution does not follow that provided by this Design Guide;
    5. provide a Preliminary Public Art Strategy to
      coordinate public art across the precinct;
    6. include a landscape plan that:

                                                 
i.     
allocates the total quantum of deep soil required for each
street block amongst the building lots;

                                                
ii.     
identifies significant trees that are required to be
conserved and those that are proposed to be removed;

    1. address any other matters, including wind and acoustic
      matters, required to be resolved in a Stage 1 development application by
      this Design Guide, by Sydney DCP 2012 or Sydney LEP 2012.

The Council – Homes
NSW Voluntary Planning Agreement (VPA)

Following the rezoning Council,
Land and Housing Corporation (now part of Homes NSW) and the NSW Planning
Minister finalised a Voluntary Planning Agreement
covering Council’s interests in Waterloo South in 2023. This included
arrangements for streets, parks and community facilities and how they would be
delivered by the developer and transferred to Council. in early 2023.

Council will take control of two
parks and 2,400 sqm of Community facilities spread across two sites in Waterloo
South. The design and use of these will be determined by Council but they will
be delivered by Stockland. It is not known what services Council proposes for
its community facilities and how this needs to be complimented by non-council
run community facilities.

You can find the final VPA, which
is different from that exhibited at: Planning
Agreement for Waterloo Estate (South)

Change of NSW
Government Requirements

In August 2023 the new NSW Labor
Government made changes to the number of social and affordable housing units it
wanted to see delivered by the successful redevelopment consortium.

This in effect increased the
quantity of social housing floorspace from 26.5% social housing to 30% and
affordable housing from 7% to 20%. The government left it up to the successful
developer to work out how it would deliver the extra affordable housing and
flagged it might not be in perpetuity. This change explains why 7% of the
affordable housing is in perpetuity at percentage of income and 13% may be only
affordable for a determined time and may be percentage off market rents.

The change also increased the
proportion of all new social and affordable homes dedicated for Aboriginal
people to 15%.

You can see the media release of
that announcement at Waterloo
South social and affordable housing boosted to 50% and other statements and
reactions can be found on the LAHC post zoning
planning section of the REDWatch website.

The Procurement and
the successful Stockland Consortium bid

In July 2022 LAHC commenced an
EOI process for a development partner consortium to redevelop Waterloo South.
After an initial short listing and some contenders pulling out as a result of
the changes requested by the new Labor Government the Stockland Consortium made
up of Stockland,
Link
Wentworth Housing, City
West Housing and Birribee
Housing were appointed as the successful bidders in April 2025.

It is still not clear what
contractual arrangements were entered into between Stockland and Homes NSW but
bits of information have been slowly emerging.

In Stockland Update on Waterloo South Planning and Design to
REDWatch on 2 October 2025 Stockland summarised the roles and responsibilities of the
consortium partners (page 6) and it provided the following information about
its undertakings to government during the procurement (page 7):

Project deliverables and
commitments

The Renewal Partner’s proposal to
Government included a range of project deliverables and commitments that
underpin how we would deliver and manage the project.

Project
deliverables

  • Deliver Waterloo South in line
    with the key parameters set out when the land was rezoned; maximum
    ~280,000m2 of Floor Area
  • Deliver new homes as per the
    following mix:
    • 30% of residential GFA as social
      housing
    • 7% residential GFA as affordable
      housing as per Sydney LEP, plus additional affordable housing to reach
      the target of 50% combined social & affordable
    • No more than 50% of residential
      GFA as market housing
  • Deliver against the Voluntary
    Planning Agreement –parks, streets and community facilities for Council

Project commitments

  • Skills exchange and redeployment
    hub
  • Aboriginal employment and
    procurement targets
  • Place activation – we’ll work with
    community on a Place Activation Strategy for the future
  • Community facilities that meet the
    needs of the existing and future community
  • Develop a governance model for
    future precinct management that involves community voices
  • Deliver tenancy wrap around
    support coordination for all social and affordable residents
  • Sustainability targets and
    measures
  • Explore ways to support local
    businesses
  • Explore
    pathways to health and educ    ation
    outcomes

In the presentation to REDWatch
in October 2025 Stockland said that they had not prepared a draft Concept Plan
as part of their bid and that they are currently preparing this for release at
the beginning of the consultation period in late October 2025. They said they
had reviewed earlier community consultation input and will take this into
account in their draft plan that they will seek community feedback on before it
is finalised and submitted for formal exhibition and approval. A video
recording of the 2 October presentation is at https://youtu.be/4cGQ3lZ_hoc

Since then Homes NSW has released
the Waterloo South People and Place plan which sets out many recommendations to
be led by the consortium and the Scoping Proposal for the rezoning and Concept
DA has also become public and reveals some of the Consortiums initial plans.

REDWatch put a list of questions
to Stockland and Homes NSW to try to clarify what had been locked in Initial Questions for Homes NSW Portfolio
and Consortium Partners – Waterloo South Redevelopment May 2025.
In the absence of a written response REDWatch will update this document
with answers as it finds out about them.

Stockland Concept Plan
and Zoning application to Planning NSW

For
the coming Concept Plan and rezoning Stockland has applied to Planning NSW for
the study requirement for its Waterloo Estate (South) Concept. It did this by providing a the Scoping Proposal for a Rezoning and Concept State
Significant Development Application (SSDA) for Waterloo Estate (South) dated 20
August 2025. The Scoping Proposal has to set out details about the
project and what the proponent wants to do.

This report was prepared to request the Planning Secretary’s Environmental Assessment
Requirements (SEARs) which sets out the concurrent Study Requirements for the
Rezoning and for the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIS) for the Concept
State Significant Development Application (SSDA). The SEARs tell the proponent
what studies and issues it needs to get approval for what they have outlined.

The Scoping Proposal proves us
with lots of information about what changes Homes NSW and Stockland want to
make to the 2022 proposal and how they plan to go about the redevelopment. This
might change as a result of more work on the Concept Plan and from engagement
with agencies and the community.

REDWatch has produced a summary
document Scoping:
What Changes do Stockland want to make?
It includes:

  • The
    accelerated combined rezoning and planning pathway used
  • Next
    Steps in delivery and planning for Stage 1
  • Changes
    proposed to the Sydney Local Environment Plan (LEP) Planning Controls
  • Changes
    proposed to the Design Guide
  • Changes
    proposed to Design Excellence process
  • Stage
    1 public benefits and community infrastructure deliverables
  • Indicative
    location of housing types across Waterloo Estate (South)
  • Indicative
    stages for Waterloo Estate (South)
  • Studies
    and Issues to be looked at in the Rezoning and the Concept Plan SSDA

The Planning NSW website
describes the application as a “Concept SSDA rezoning for Waterloo South for
the future delivery of 3,000 dwellings including a mix of social, affordable
and market housing”. Although the title says 3,000 housing, the Concept needs
to try to accommodate an extra 300 units from the 10% design excellence bonus
which is now additional to the base line floor space. Care needs to be taken
with any figures on the final unit numbers as the planning proposal sets
proportions of floor space to be given to different types of housing and the
actual number of units delivered of each type will depend on their size.

On adjusting the controls to
accommodate the extra 10% floorspace, the Stockland
Update on Waterloo South Planning and Design to REDWatch on 2 October 2025
(page 13) said that there are three inconsistencies between these planning
rules we’re going to try and fix as part of the Concept Application:

  1. Some
    buildings in the Design Guide are taller than what the LEP allows
  2. The
    Design Guide shows 10% less floor space than what the LEP may allow
    (including design excellence)
  3. Some
    building shapes in the Design Guide may limit whether other rules can be
    achieved, like sunlight access to apartments or parks.

Stockland has requested changes
in its Scoping Report to:

  1. Fix
    parts of the rules that don’t currently match
  2. Give
    more certainty about the size, shape and location of buildings
  3. As a
    result of the above, adjust where some floor space can go so it matches
    the proposed building locations in the Concept Plan
  4. Minor
    updates to other rules relating to the mix of uses.

Stockland say: Importantly,
these changes will not look to increase the total amount of development allowed
under the planning rules – they will just look to make sure the rules in the
LEP and the Design Guide are consistent with the Concept Plan.

Planning NSW has set
the Study Requirements Stockland need to address

Planning NSW have provided The Planning Secretary’s Environmental
Assessment Requirements (SEARs) which set out the concurrent study
requirements for both the Rezoning and for the Environmental Impact Assessment
(EIS) for the Concept State Significant Development Application (SSDA).
It includes a long list of studies that need to be undertaken or revised to
support the proposals put forward in the Concept Plan and rezoning. It also
includes issues that need to be addressed in the studies, rezoning or Concept
Plan SSDA.

Stockland is onboarding
consultants and planning the coming consultations based on the expected study
requirements. REDWatch wants Stockland to provide a list of the studies and the
consultants that are undertaking specific studies so community members can
request meetings with specific consultants during sessions to discuss issues of
concern.

One important Study that has not
been done for Waterloo over the last 10 years is a Social
Impact Assessment (SIA). The study requirements also include a requirement
to provide a Preliminary Social Impact Management Plan (SIMP) to propose how
identified impacts from the development on local communities can be best
managed.

Given historical concerns about
the social and health impact of the redevelopment of a major public housing
estate and the relocations on tenants, the inclusion of this study requirement
allows tenants and agencies to raise a wide range of foreseeable positive and
negative impacts. Stockland has told agencies that their Social Impact
consultants will be in all engagement sessions to capture social impact issues
raised. It has been suggested to Stockland that the 2019 Health Impact
Assessment, recently made public is a good starting point for the SIA.

Homes NSW Waterloo
South People and Place Plan

In June 2024 Homes NSW sought
feedback on its People and Place Plan. In the lead up to the rezoning Homes NSW
have now released their final version of its Waterloo South People and Place
Plan (PDF 2.86MB). It raises a number of recommendations that Homes NSW and
the Consortium / Delivery Partner are expected to implement that people should
also be aware of heading into discussions with Stockland.

REDWatch has reviewed the plan
and have explained REDWatch concerns on final Waterloo South
People and Place Plan on our website. Some of the
recommendations have been removed in the final version or in our view “watered
down” since the consultation draft. You can see details of these changes on the
REDWatch website at People and Place Recommendations 2025
Changes from 2024 Draft.

Homes NSW have also released a Waterloo South
People and Place Feedback Report (PDF 182.92KB) which is a dot point
summary of the issues raised in the 12 submissions they received but contains
no detail as to what was said or why or why not feedback was accepted or
rejected.

In summary REDWatch finds the
high-level Waterloo South People and Place Plan disappointing as it remains
focused only on the Waterloo South redevelopment and does not address the wider
estate, not even recognising the 500+ public housing tenants in the Waterloo
Heritage Conservation area. Much work remains to be done to try and tie this
Waterloo South work to the Waterloo Collaborative’s human services plan to
address not only on current service issues but to adequately address issues
those created during the redevelopment and in its functioning after bits are
built.

People and Place creates a list
of recommendations Homes NSW and the Consortium need to address however the
final version has removed some elements of concern to tenants such as
recommendations relating to access to affordable health care and the need for
low cost or free options for community spaces and shops.

Some other recommendations are
now to “explore” and “explore opportunities” rather than provide “ensure” or
“deliver”. For example, “incorporate public toilets” has now become “to explore
the provision of” (6.11). Terms like codesign and “report back” disappear while
“increase employment” becomes ““provide capacity building to enhance skills and
increase employment”. You can see all the changes in the comparison document.

These are worrying changes that
qualify the recommendations making it less likely that Homes NSW and the
Consortium will deliver.

It is important heading into the
coming consultations that people look at these recommendations (and those that
have been removed or watered down) and ask how they are going to be actually
delivered rather than be left as aspirations that don’t see reality. Some will
relate to actions that can be taken to mitigate social impacts and should be
also picked up in the draft Social Impact Management Plan.

REDWatch does welcome the use of
Australian Bureau of Statistics data that more precisely covers Waterloo South
rather than relying on Waterloo suburb data as being indicative. This data
certainly demonstrates the much higher health needs of Waterloo South and
supports the argument for the provision of health facilities in Waterloo South
even thought this was previously dropped by Homes NSW and Stockland. You can
see a comparison of the Waterloo South and Waterloo Suburb health figures at REDWatch
concerns on final Waterloo South People and Place Plan 

Consultation starts 27
October 2025

Homes NSW and the Consortium have
delivered a letter and flyer to Waterloo tenants about the coming consultation.
They have also established a new website at www.waterloorenewal.com.au which
contains information about the coming consultation. This site works alongside Homes
NSW’s Waterloo Renewal Project site and Planning
NSW’s Waterloo Estate (South) Concept Plan site.

The Consortium website says the
proposed plan and additional information about the Concept Application will be
on this website when consultation commences on 27 October.

Most of the program outlined so
far is designed for drop-in sessions or pop-ups. No themed workshops have been
proposed so people will need to raise their specific concerns during these
“information and feedback sessions” or the popups.

The Consortium says that between
27 October and 4 December (Monday to Friday 10am – 4pm) you can meet
Stockland’s team, see the draft plan, ask questions and share feedback. This
may be the best time to meet specific specialist consultants if you can find
out from Stockland when they might be at Homes NSW’s Waterloo Connect Office
(95 Wellington Street opposite Oz Harvest).

Two sessions where there will be
a presentation by the Consortium are more structured than the drop-ins. These
are:

The website provides the
following contact details:

The Consortium has said it will
put on extra sessions as the need arises so if your group wants a presentation
or you want a session on a specific topic then contact the Consortium.

The consortium has been engaging
directly with Aboriginal organisations and the Aboriginal community.

A Feedback session with service providers will be held Tuesday 11 November (10.00am – 12.00pm) – The Factory Community Centre (67 Raglan Street, Waterloo). This will be an opportunity for local service providers and organisations to sit down with members of the team to learn more about the Concept Application, ask questions and provide detailed feedback about matters that are most relevant for the service provider network. 

At a human service agency
briefing on the consultation, issues on how community housing providers will
integrate with the existing human service ecosystem, the interest in a health
facility being delivered, locations for NGOs and affordable housing for people
who work in services were all raised. Future discussions with human service
providers have been foreshadowed.

Where this
consultation fits

The 2025 consultation is not a
statutory exhibition with formal submissions, this is an opportunity to comment
on the plan and discuss the overall Waterloo South area in finer detail. After
this consultation Stockland will make changes to the plan and report back to
the community on what it heard and what it changed. It will then submit its
studies and plan to Planning NSW for checking and for formal exhibition by
Planning NSW. Following collation of submissions Stockland will prepare a
formal response to submissions report and any additional changes before the
Planning NSW makes a decision on the concept plan and any changes to the
planning controls. 

The Stockland Update on Waterloo South Planning
and Design to REDWatch on 2 October 2025 (page 10 onwards) provides an
overview of expected future consultation over the next 12 months. Not covered
in that presentation is that demolition and clearing the Stage 1 site will not
undergo the same public scrutiny as other parts of planning. REDWatch
encourages people to pay close attention to tree retention in this area during
the coming consultation.

REDWatch Meeting on 6
November

The REDWatch meeting on 6
February at 6:00 at Counterpoint’s Factory Community Centre will assume that
those attending have either attended one of the above sessions or have
familiarised themselves with the Draft Concept Plan from the website or
elsewhere. We are not asking Stockland to repeat this presentation so we
maximise the time for people to raise their concerns.

Some Issues for consideration in the
Concept Plan

Lots of issues are emerging from
the Scoping Proposal for the Rezoning and Concept State Significant Development Application (SSDA), the Waterloo South
People and Place Plan and issues around potential social impacts. The release
of the Draft Concept Plan will add to issues to be considered.

On the REDWatch website we have
started a document Some Issues
for consideration in the Waterloo South Concept Plan. We will update this
document as issues arise and more information becomes available. REDWatch will
also has made some comments about Concept Plan issues in our emails to members
and supporters. To join the REDWatch email list send your email address to mail@redwatch.org.au.

It is important to build on the
planning that has gone before rather than go over old ground unless the earlier
planning missed things important to the community.

In preparing for the
consultation, you may want to think about:

  • Are
    there important things that were no taken up in earlier planning? e.g. bike
    path and community centre locations etc
  • Are
    the changes to accommodate the extra floor space reasonable and do they
    deliver improved outcomes? e.g. changes in heights, building footprints,
    tree cover impact etc
  • Will
    the other changes Homes NSW and Stockland have proposed deliver better
    community outcomes than what was earlier proposed e.g. Should there be a
    health facility and what should it provide or should it be replaced by
    “educational establishments”, will the removal of the 2022 design
    excellence provisions from social and affordable housing still result in
    great outcomes or should silver liveable apartment standard and accessible
    car parking for market apartment be reduced – for full list of proposed
    changes see Scoping:
    What Changes do Stockland want to make?
  • What
    should be provided in the no less than 5,000sqm set aside for community
    facilities (2,400 already allocated to Council), health facilities (2,000
    sqm proposed in 2022) and centre-based childcare facilities? Should
    “education establishments” be also added as a use for this space?
  • What
    should be provided in the no less than 7,000sqm set aside for other
    non-residential uses such as shops to service the local community
    including low-income options, creative enterprises and social enterprises?
  • How do
    we make public spaces safer than they are at the moment and deal with
    public activities that disrupt others quite enjoyment of their homes or create concern in
    parts of the community such as public drinking?
  • Are
    the trees proposed to be retained adequate. Is there a way to deliver the
    development and retain more tree cover, is the space allocated for future
    tree planning sufficient to provide the tree cover needed to mitigate high
    summer heat?
  • What
    possible social impacts, both good and bad, do you see from the
    redevelopment and what can be done to get the best of the benefits and
    deal with the impacts that will be felt by some people?

On
the REDWatch website you will find more details on some of these issues under Some Issues for consideration in
the Waterloo South Concept Plan. We will continue to update this
document as issues arise and more information becomes available.

REDWatch raised some Initial
Questions for Homes NSW Portfolio and Consortium Partners – Waterloo South
Redevelopment in May 2025, Some of these questions are relevant to the
consultation. In the absence of a written response to these questions REDWatch
will add in what we have heard from the Consortium.

REDWatch has
produced some documents to help people understand some of the issues heading
into the consultation:

This document was produced by REDWatch on 20 October 2025
and updated 23 October 2025.