Planning
Updates on current DAs in Glebe and Forest Lodge: August 2023
Posted on 2nd August 2023
Updates about development applications (DAs) for a group of buildings in Forest and Ross Street Forest Lodge; and the R J Williams (Wesley Mission) building at 274-276 Glebe Point Road.
New housing policy overrides heritage protection rules
Posted on 27th June 2023
In mid-June, NSW Premier Chris Minns announced a policy to allow developers to build higher and denser housing that will override local environment plans. It’s an attempt to solve Sydney’s housing affordability crisis. What will it mean for Glebe?
Updates on current development applications (DAs) in Glebe
Posted on 30th June 2023
Updates about development applications (DAs) for Bidura, St Scholastica’s College, Wesley Lodge and 82 Wentworth Park Road, currently being referred to the Local Planning Panel by the City of Sydney.
The Glebe Society’s submissions to City of Sydney Council, 2023
Posted on 1st March 2023
The Management Committee believes Glebe Society members benefit if they are informed of the Society’s submissions concerning development applications that may impact local Heritage Conservation Areas, the streetscape, the public domain or local amenity. This article contains links to recent submissions, and is updated monthly.
From the President – July 2023
Posted on 26th June 2023
In his monthly report, Ian Stephenson, President of the Society, proposes that the building set aside for public housing at 82 Wentworth Park Road be refurbished and extended rather than demolished.
Renewal of outdoor dining at The Friend in Hand
Posted on 30th May 2023
The Society recently lodged a submission in relation to an application for renewal of outdoor dining at The Friend in Hand Hotel. The key issue was whether, given its close proximity to houses, footpath dining should cease at 8 pm rather than 10 pm.
From the President – May 2023
Posted on 29th April 2023
In his monthly report, Ian Stephenson, President of the Glebe Society, welcomes the new government’s decision to place a moratorium on the sale of historic housing in the St Phillips and Lyndhurst Estates. And he’s come up with a new name for the developments in Cowper St and Wentworth Park Rd.
Having your cake and eating it too
Posted on 28th March 2023
Is it possible to build new social housing to fit in with a heritage conservation area? In this article Ian Stephenson, President of the Glebe Society, argues that the plan for the demolition of 82 Wentworth Park Rd is a case of not managing public assets in an intelligent manner.
Glebe Society submissions on development applications
Posted on 10th June 2022
Information about recent Glebe Society submissions on Development Applications in Glebe and Forest Lodge.
Demonstration against demolition of public housing in Wentworth Park Rd
Posted on 2nd October 2022
On 17 September, Hands Off Glebe held a demonstration to protest against the demolition of 17 public housing units at 82 Wentworth Park Rd by the NSW Land and Housing Corporation. Speakers called for existing public housing estates to be upgraded and repaired and for the social and urban fabric of Glebe to be respected, and for the NSW Government to stop ‘cannibalising’ public housing.
Switch off the lights, a step in the right direction
Posted on 6th October 2022
The recent decision by the Independent Planning Commission regarding the advertising on the Glebe Island Silos, to have the lighting switched off at 11 pm, is a welcome improvement.
Planning Subcommittee Annual Report 2021-2022
Posted on 11th September 2022
The Society has been working to nurture Glebe’s special magic for over fifty years. Active engagement with the planning process is an important part of this. The Planning Subcommittee has been very busy in this area over the last year. Our work has included making submissions on development applications, participating in meetings with the City of Sydney and the NSW Land and Housing Corporation, Infrastructure NSW and making detailed submissions on State Significant Developments.
Modified Blackwattle Bay Plan still not good enough
Posted on 12th September 2022
The Blackwattle Bay Plan has been revised after more than 2,000 objections to the first plan were lodged. While there are some improvements, the site will still be massively overdeveloped.
The raison d’être of the Glebe Society
Posted on 9th October 2022
Reflections written in 2010 (with some factual updates since) on the social and economic conditions in Glebe in the 1960s and the factors that saw the birth of the Glebe Society. In the intervening 50 years, the changing demographics of Glebe have also played a role, arguably both positive and negative. By long term Glebe Society member and former Planning Convenor, Neil Macindoe.
Early photographs wanted
Posted on 12th June 2022
Do you have any old photographs of 39 Lodge St showing its original verandah?
Glebe Society submissions on development applications
Posted on 12th June 2022
Information about recent Glebe Society submissions on Development Applications in Glebe and Forest Lodge.
Going, Going, Gone
Posted on 6th June 2022
During the last two weeks, 17-31 Cowper St, Glebe has been demolished. Its delightful courtyard and fountain are gone forever. A backward step for conservation, residential amenity and the environment.
The threats to Glebe’s urban and social fabric continue
Posted on 8th June 2022
The NSW Land and Housing Corporation have advised that they are investigating the opportunity to renew (ie demolish) 82 Wentworth Park Road in order to ‘understand its potential to deliver more social housing on the site’. Like 17-31 Cowper St, 82 Wentworth Park Rd was designed in the late 1980s by the NSW Housing Commission. It is a fine building which respects the character and topography of Glebe while providing great amenity for residents. Moreover, it is in a heritage conservation area.
Pedestrian safety still at risk at new Sydney Fish Market site
Posted on 7th March 2022
Transport for NSW officials have responded to urgent concerns over pedestrian safety along Bridge Rd, next to the construction site of the New Sydney Fish Market. Transport for NSW plans to improve signage ‘within a few weeks’, and that they were currently undertaking a pedestrian safety review, which they aim to implement ‘sooner rather than later’. The results of the review will not be publicly available.
From the President – March 2022
Posted on 7th March 2022
The Glebe Society has been incredibly busy over summer. Catch up with what we’ve been doing by reading the President’s Report.
Report on a Glebe Society Guided Walk: ‘The Good the Bad and the Ugly …’
Posted on 7th March 2022
The Glebe Society’s 2022 program of Guided Walks kicked off on 6 February with a walk led by our President, Ian Stephenson. This walk, titled The Good the Bad and the Ugly: a hundred years of infill housing in Glebe took us on a stroll through the Lyndhurst, St Phillips and Bishopthorpe Estates.
Re-submitted DA for Bidura still unacceptable
Posted on 4th March 2022
The Society has lodged a follow-up submission in relation to the Bidura development application (DA) which proposes a large scale apartment complex behind the heritage-listed building, replacing the concrete Metropolitan Remand Centre/Childrens Court built in the early 1980s. This follows a period of consultation between the City of Sydney and the developers, Visionland, and amendments to their original proposal. The Society believes that aspects of the proposed development will be alien to the architectural character of Glebe and should not be approved.
The most serious threat to Glebe’s scale and community in fifty years
Posted on 16th December 2021
In November, the Sydney City Council’s approved a Development Application by the NSW Land and Housing Corporation to erect two 8-storey apartment towers and five 3-storey terrace houses in the St Phillips estate in Glebe. This represents the most serious threat to the urban character and community of Glebe – what makes Glebe’s special – in almost fifty years.
Conservation and Change in the St Phillips estate, a talk by Philip Thalis
Posted on 16th December 2021
The starting point for good urban design lies in a deep understanding of how an area has evolved over time,, said architect and urban planner Philip Thalis, in a recent talk about the evolution of the St Phillips area of Glebe and ways in which future development could echo existing streetscapes and foster social connections between residents.
Our new video series ‘In Sydney, it’s Glebe’
Posted on 1st October 2021
‘In Sydney it’s Glebe’, six Glebe Society videos about our suburb, its history and heritage and the risks it faces from overdevelopment, have now been released.
From the President, August 2021
Posted on 2nd August 2021
Glebe Society President, Janet Wahlquist, provides an update on the Society’s recent activities and what’s new in Glebe and Forest Lodge
Proposed development at 7 Franklyn St and 49-51 Greek St, Glebe
Posted on 5th August 2021
A DA under consideration for these sites, involves demolishing two former warehouses and replacing them with 84 self-contained boarding rooms. The proposed development is out of character with the neighbouring houses. Adaptive reuse of the warehouses would be a better solution.
Coming soon: Exciting new videos on Glebe
Posted on 6th August 2021
Watch out for a series of six videos on the history of Glebe and threats to its future. Coming later in August.
A meeting with the NSW Minister for Housing
Posted on 4th August 2021
Brian Fuller and Ian Stephenson of the Society’s Management Committee, met with Deputy Lord Mayor, Linda Scott and the Hon. Melinda Pavey, Minister for Water, Property and Housing. The Society expressed its opposition to the spot rezoning of 17-31 Cowper St and 2A-D Wentworth Park Rd to allow the NSW Land and Housing Corporation to erect two eight-storey apartment buildings in the St Phillip’s Heritage Conservation Area.
Yelvertoft, 75 Hereford St, Sells
Posted on 3rd August 2021
The heritage-listed 1858 Victorian Regency sandstone villa, Yelvertoft, has been saved from the developers.
