Council holds the line on Lords Road
Thursday, 14 March 2019
Inner West Council has knocked back the latest Lords Road Planning Proposal, which has plagued the Inner West for years.
Council’s Strategic Planners recommended to Council the proposal be rejected on 13 grounds, calling the proposal inadequate and without merit.
Council has been fighting various Planning Proposals to rezone one of the last pieces of valuable industrial land in Leichhardt to allow for apartments since 2014.
The latest Planning Proposal is for 235-303 apartments in a nine storey development.
The previous proposal, for 315 apartments up to eight storeys high, was refused by the State Government’s Sydney Eastern City Planning Panel (SCPP) in September 2018.
At the time, the decision to refuse was considered a major win for the local community.
The latest proposal was rejected because:
• It does not meet the strategic, land use, sustainability targets or development objectives of the NSW Government’s Parramatta Road Corridor Urban Transformation Strategy
• The community engagement and consultation on the development was inadequate
• The proposed development would mean a net loss of jobs in the local government area
• The proposed development exceeds recommended maximum height and density targets
• The Planning Proposal makes no adequate contribution towards affordable housing
• The proposed development is out of character within the surrounding low density residential area
“Frankly, I’m sick of these inadequate and inappropriate Planning Proposals for what is one of the last pieces of increasingly scarce industrial land in our area,” said Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne.
“We’ve refused proposal after proposal, and we’ve been backed up by the NSW Government’s own planning policies.
“Council and the community have stood together, and fought and won more than one battle to save these valuable employment lands at Lord Road,” Mayor Byrne said. “We won’t give up, and this is the latest example of our determination to fight over-development in the Inner West.”
For media enquiries, contact Elizabeth Heath | Media and Communications Coordinator
P: +61 2 9392 5334 | E: elizabeth.heath@innerwest.nsw.gov.au