Article Topic: City of Sydney

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 sighting of a superb fairy wren in a Glebe garden in early 2022 was a cause for great celebration by the Blue Wren Subcommittee. This last year, the Subcommittee continued its work on habitat as well as the annual Spring Bird Survey, the annual Biodiversity Lecture, the Craney Small Grant and many hours of volunteering by the Bushcare teams. Add to that the Subcommittee’s input on planning around The Hill, a wildlife corridor, Council’s Street Tree Plan and local Crown Lands.

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.

Catch up with what we’ve been doing by reading the President’s Report. This month has seen us attending meetings with Council and other groups with similar goals to ours. Our program of Guided Walks is also going strong.

On Saturday 20 November, the Glebe Society hosted a debate by the six City of Sydney Lord Mayoral candidates. Over 130 people attended in person and online. Before the debate all the candidates provided written responses setting out their position on key areas affecting Glebe. See the candidates’ answers.

The Glebe Society has organised a debate on Saturday 20 November with the candidates for the upcoming City of Sydney Mayoral election. Hear what they have to say at Glebe Town Hall or by Zoom. Book now….

An opportunity to meet and hear from the candidates for Lord Mayor of the City of Sydney will now take place on Saturday 20 November at Glebe Town Hall from 10 am – 11.30 am, hosted by the Glebe Society o  

Glebe is a special place. Its survival owes much to contingency. Social diversity created a remarkable architectural and cultural legacy. The year 2021 has reminded us that we cannot take the protection of Glebe’s social and urban character for granted. The City of Sydney’s well-considered Local Environment Plan and Development Control Plans are being undermined by State and Local governments.

One of the candidates in the Mayoral election, Labor candidate Linda Scott, has a policy commitment to ‘Re-Establish Community Centres and City of Sydney Town Halls’. This is directly in line with the Glebe Society’s proposal to Council that a staffed community centre be established in Glebe Town Hall.

The Glebe Society will host a Meet the 2021 Sydney Lord Mayor Candidates Forum on 15 August 2021. Open to all local residents and businesses

What sort of activities would you like to see take place at the Glebe Town Hall, if it could again become a staffed community centre?

At the prompting of the Glebe Society, Millers Point Residents Action Group and the Paddington Society, the City of Sydney Council is planning to further develop heritage information and education programs for owners of heritage homes.

Glebe Society met with Lord Mayor Clover Moore to discuss social housing. The Glebe Society is opposed to LAHC’s unprincipled vision to create a tale of two suburbs: one which is low-rise and historic and the other which is high-rise and heartless.

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.

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.