Planning
In the 1960s, Glebe was viewed as a slum, ripe for demolition. Today it is a sought after residential suburb. The story of this transformation is not only a story of changing tastes and lifestyles, but also the story of a determined group of residents who saw the potential beauty and amenity of their suburb and fought to preserve it from the bulldozers.
Read more about our Planning overview or view our Planning posts below.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Society meets with State Government to discuss affordable and social housing
Posted on 11th July 2021
Ian Stephenson and Brian Fuller, the Society’s Planning and Heritage convenors, recently joined Deputy Lord Mayor Linda Scott at a meeting with the Hon. Melinda Pavey MP, Minister for Water, Property and Housing, to discuss the State Government’s intentions in relation to the provision of affordable and social housing in Glebe.
‘It’s only words’: the melancholy of the St Phillips Estate
Posted on 6th July 2021
The Development Application to build two eight-storey apartment buildings and five faux terrace houses in the St Phillips Heritage Conservation Area, brings the plaintive melancholy of the Bee Gees’ 1968 hit song Words to mind
Opposition to proposed Glebe Island concrete batching plant
Posted on 4th June 2021
The Glebe Society has objected to a proposal for a Concrete Batching Plant and Handling Facility at White Bay. Among other things, it could have a negative impact on the desirability of restoring the Glebe Island Bridge as a pedestrian and cycleway.
Cowper St DA – consider making a submission
Posted on 4th June 2021
Sydney City Council are considering a development application (DA) from the NSW Land and Corporation for the construction of a high-rise development in Cowper Street in what, until very recently, was a Heritage Conservation Area. Submission closing date is 23 June 21
Another Conservation Area in Glebe at risk
Posted on 4th June 2021
A key principle underlying Glebe’s conservation areas are that if a Neutral building is to be replaced, the replacement must be sympathetic to its Contributory neighbours, rather than to any Detracting neighbours. This principle seems to have got lost in a recent development approval decision by City of Sydney Council.
Draft Greening Sydney Strategy
Posted on 22nd May 2021
City of Sydney is currently consulting on their draft Greening Sydney Strategy. It would aim to increase overall green cover to manage urban heat, create more opportunities to connect with nature and create greater biodiversity.
NSW Planning’s proposed Design and Place SEPP is not going to work
Posted on 22nd May 2021
Check out the Glebe Society’s submission on the state government’s proposed Design and Place planning policy
Stop Cannibalising Glebe – Defend Public Housing Rally
Posted on 22nd May 2021
The state government is getting it seriously wrong by doing high rise developments in heritage conservation areas in parts of Glebe.
Update on Glebe Island Bridge and Bays West Place Strategy
Posted on 8th April 2021
It was with some surprise and also joy that we learned from the Minister for Planning, Rob Stokes, of his plan for White Bay, which also including a plan to open the Glebe Island Bridge to pedestrians and cyclists.
High Rise For Glebe’s St Phillips Heritage Conservation Area
Posted on 8th April 2021
Nearly forty years of good planning designed to conserve the scale of the St Phillips Heritage Conservation Area through height controls was overturned on 29 March when Sydney City Council approved the NSW Land and Housing Corporation’s application for a spot rezoning of 17-31 Cowper St and 2A-D Wentworth Park Rd.
An update on the NSW Land and Housing Corporation’s rezoning application for high rise in the St Phillips Heritage Conservation Area
Posted on 7th March 2021
Numbers 17-31 Cowper St and 2A-D Wentworth Park Rd are part of the St Phillips Heritage Conservation Area. The current height limit is nine metres. NSW Land and Housing Corporation wants to construct tall buildings, which requires a spot rezoning. The Society has objected to the rezoning application, as has the National Trust.
Franklyn St Estate demonstration
Posted on 27th February 2021
On 30 January our compatriot organisation Hands Off Glebe held a demonstration opposing the redevelopment of the Cowper St and Franklyn St estates. The Glebe Society was there.
The Franklyn St Redevelopment Proposal
Posted on 1st January 2021
In November the NSW Government released the Franklyn St, Glebe, redevelopment proposal. The Society has a list of objections.
Glebe plan shows lack of respect – Letter in Sydney Morning Herald
Posted on 1st January 2021
The Glebe Society’s letter, published on Jan 1st, 2021, about plans to trash the 50-year legacy of good public policy and town planning in Glebe
Plans to shrink the St Phillips Heritage Conservation Area will undermine heritage values, liveability and amenity
Posted on 29th December 2020
The Society has lodged an objection the NSW Government s plans to remove the parts of the St Phillips Heritage Conservation Area, paving the way for building heights up to the equivalent of eight storeys. T
The Glebe Society opposes changes to the St Phillips Heritage Conservation Area
Posted on 4th November 2020
The Glebe Society has expressed strong opposition to Sydney City Council’s Plans to adjust the boundaries of the the St Phillips Heritage Conservation Area to exclude 2A-2D Wentworth Park Road and 17-31 Cowper Street to enable their demolition and replacement by 8-storey apartment buildings. Plus, why the 1980s infill developments in Glebe worked so well.
Saving a Sydney suburb
Posted on 21st October 2020
Current residents are perhaps not aware of how close Glebe came to virtual annihilation by the NSW Department of Main Roads in the 1970s.
Housing Diversity State Environmental Planning Policy
Posted on 17th October 2020
Will the State Government’s proposed Housing Diversity Planning Policy help redress the current desperate shortage of social and affordable housing in Glebe and across the state?
