source : the age
Two Sydney suburbs are set to be transformed as low-rise homes make way for buildings up to 18 storeys tall under a controversial council plan to deliver 4000 new dwellings.
Canterbury-Bankstown City Council has voted to endorse its alternative plan to the state government’s transport-oriented development (TOD) scheme for Wiley Park and Punchbowl.
An artist’s impression of future Wiley Park under council’s housing proposal.Credit: Canterbury-Bankstown City Council
The council had been required to allow at least 1600 new homes in those suburbs under the government’s TOD plans. Instead, it more than doubled the target.
Under the council’s alternative, up to 4000 new homes could be built and high-density rezoning extended to 800 metres from Wiley Park and Punchbowl metro stations. Low-density streets would be transformed, with buildings of between four and 18 storeys.
The TOD controls would cap building heights to a maximum of 24 metres, while the council alternative would allow buildings as high as 62 metres around Punchbowl station.
In a fiery council debate on Tuesday, independent Councillor Barbara Coorey protested against the plans, claiming the proposal would turn suburbs from Canterbury to Bankstown into Hong Kong’s Happy Valley.
An artist’s impression of future Punchbowl metro station. Credit: Canterbury-Bankstown City Council
“This is a super TOD that will rip the heart and soul out of Wiley Park and Punchbowl,” she said before the meeting.
She told her fellow councillors that while she did not support the state government’s TOD, in this case it was “the lesser of two evils”.
Our Local Community councillor Harry Stavrinos also voted against the proposal. He said he doesn’t believe the arrival of the metro line would justify the need for 4000 more units in the area.
“I’ve never seen a report come to council where a council is endorsing more than what the state government is putting forward,” he said.
Labor’s David Walsh accused Coorey of playing “rancid politics” after she claimed the area’s housing crisis had more to do with immigration than lack of supply.
“[The plan] is a vision of what Punchbowl and Wiley Park are going to look like into the future, a plan for more walkable, inviting streets, a plan for open space, a plan for the infrastructure that these two suburbs need,” he said.
Labor councillors voted in favour of the proposal, and it passed despite protests from independent, Liberal and Greens councillors. This is not the first TOD rodeo for Canterbury-Bankstown City Council: Bankstown’s rezoning has come into effect and allows for 14,000 new homes.
Council has also submitted an alternative plan for Lakemba and Belmore, which proposes to go beyond the state government’s proposal and would more than double the number of homes delivered.
Inner West Council has also revealed its alternative to the TOD controls. Dubbed the Fairer Future plan, more than 30,000 homes could be built with buildings of mostly six to 11 storeys clustered around Marrickville, Dulwich Hill, Croydon and Ashfield stations.
Ku-ring-gai Council has also put forward its alternative for higher density buildings around train stations, with buildings as tall as 28 storeys to be permitted around Gordon station.
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