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The eastern suburbs skyline will be transformed with high-rise towers as tall as 34 storeys under dramatic new NSW government plans to add 9400 new homes.
Draft plans revealed on Tuesday show varied building heights of 34 storeys around Edgecliff station and 32 storeys around a to-be-built Woollahra station as part of a state government plan to ramp up housing supply east of the CBD.
The draft plans also include seven new parks, nine kilometres of new walking and cycling connections and a new Woollahra local centre which the government has promised will create more jobs and provide local services.
The new homes will be built over the next 20 years over 168 hectares of eastern suburbs land, with 40 per cent of new homes to be delivered within 200 metres of a train station, with the new Woollahra heavy rail station to open in 2029.
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The draft plans also include a requirement for a diversity of studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments in the new developments.
“We can’t keep pushing all of Sydney’s growth to the west and the urban fringe while established suburbs close to jobs, transport and services are locked away from new housing,” Premier Chris Minns said.
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“We’re not asking Woollahra to solve the housing crisis on its own. We’re asking Woollahra to make a fair contribution, just as we’re asking communities right across Sydney to do.”
The plans will no doubt face local backlash as residential Woollahra streets with mostly two-storey homes and low-density unit blocks are rezoned to accommodate towers as tall as 34 storeys.
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The Liberal-dominated Woollahra Council is fighting against the dramatic uplift, instead offering an alternative housing plan to deliver 3600 new units around the station.
Mayor Sarah Dixson told this masthead last month the government’s plan was a “dystopian nightmare in waiting”, and a council report said the Labor state government had not provided enough evidence to justify opening the station.
While Dixson remains staunchly opposed to the 10,000 home target, her deputy and fellow Liberal councillor Sean Carmichael has spoken out against his own council’s offering.
In a lengthy post to X quoting the television show Chernobyl, Carmichael backflipped on his initial criticism of the state government’s plans as a “random and peculiar act of toxic masculinity” and instead argued the council’s alternative plan was not a serious option.
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“Up to 3600 units is not remotely the best we can do,” he said.
“That number is not merely an inadequate answer to the state; it is an insult to every Sydneysider facing mortgage or rental stress – and to every younger Sydneysider who hopes one day to have a space of their own.”
More to come
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Jessica McSweeney is a reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald covering state politics and urban affairs.Connect via email.AdvertisementAdvertisement