Residents furious at plans to build 30,000 homes in Sydney’s inner west

2 months ago 21

The deluge was no deterrent for the hundreds of residents who showed up – dressed in raincoats and carrying umbrellas – to protest against a Sydney council’s plan to rezone and build 31,000 new homes in the inner west.

Following an hour-long rally outside the chambers on Monday night, protesters filled Ashfield Civic Centre waving placards and repeatedly interjecting, leading Inner West Council Mayor Darcy Byrne to demand silence so all 80 speakers at the four-hour-long forum could be heard.

Protesters demonstrate outside Ashfield Civic Centre, where a public forum on the council’s Fairer Futures housing plan was held.

Tensions between councillors and the irate crowd reached boiling point at the fiery community meeting over the council’s bespoke plan to boost housing supply and build the homes within 15 years, described by Byrne as the “most important policy” the council will oversee in its term.

Dubbed the Fairer Future Plan, the scheme proposes taller buildings of mostly six to 11 storeys clustered around Marrickville, Dulwich Hill, Croydon and Ashfield train stations, as well as light rail stops and shopping strips in a bid to protect heritage precincts and more evenly distribute higher-density housing.

It is an alternative approach to the state government’s transport oriented development (TOD) scheme which rezones land within 400 metres of 37 railway stations across Sydney to allow for six- or seven-storey unit blocks.

“It is fairer. It’s fairer for developers, but it’s not fairer for the community,” Hall Greenland, a former NSW Greens convener and former Leichhardt councillor said at the rally. “Housing has got to stop being a commodity that landlords, big corporations, builders and developers exploit.”

Hall Greenland speaks at the rally against the scheme, which proposes taller buildings of mostly six to 11 storeys clustered around Marrickville, Dulwich Hill, Croydon and Ashfield train stations.

Under the plan, 2 per cent of any residential development greater than 2000 square metres will be dedicated to affordable housing, which Greenland said was far from enough.

Dulwich Hill resident Andrew Harvey said: “We don’t understand why questioning the process has us labelled as NIMBYs – we don’t understand how suburbs like Dulwich Hill can be asked to increase housing through high-rise apartments without any additional green space or infrastructure.”

Byrne has faced backlash from the community who said the Fairer Future Plan would put more strain on infrastructure in already well-developed suburbs – up to 22,000 of the proposed dwellings have been concentrated in Ashfield, Marrickville and Dulwich Hill.

The plan includes a “substantial density uplift” in Marrickville and Dulwich Hill town centres, as well as shop-top housing on Old Canterbury, Wardell and Liverpool roads, and Norton, Crystal and Marion streets.

Some community groups such as Sydney YIMBY were among those who spoke, supporting the widespread rezoning and uplift.

“Increasing supply does bring housing prices down, it brings rents down – there are fewer people at every auction and rental inspection,” chair Justin Simon said.

Sydney YIMBY co-founders Emily Lockwood and Justin Simon.

“All these people have bought their homes last century. They’re just paying lip service to housing affordability … If we preserve the detached houses in the inner west, then no ordinary people are going to be able to afford it,” he said.

The council will hold an extraordinary meeting next Tuesday to debate the proposal and consider any recommended changes to the plan as a result of the community forum and the 3146 submissions received from the public.

The meeting comes after the state government unveiled plans this month to deliver 8000 new homes along Parramatta Road. The proposed rezoning of the busy inner west transport corridor would cover sections such as Leichhardt, Annandale and Camperdown.

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