Article Topic: LAHC

The Glebe Society submitted innovative proposals for improving public housing at 82 Wentworth Park Road. The State Government had other plans and their proposal to demolish and replace the existing housing was approved. It is discussed in this article.

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.

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.

Laurel Tree House, a long-standing and much-loved not-for-profit childcare centre in Arundel St, Forest Lodge run by KU Children’s Services, is set to close at the end of the year after the NSW Land & Housing Corporation (LAHC) announced its intention to sell the site. Parents have been campaigning to bridge the issues between stakeholders to save this precious community asset.

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.

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. 

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.