The court battles over multimillion-dollar towers in Mosman and Neutral Bay

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Plans to bulldoze century-old homes to make way for multistorey housing projects in sought-after Sydney suburbs have been stopped in their tracks by heritage protection orders, preventing construction work for at least six months.

The NSW government has approved separate requests by Mosman and North Sydney councils to apply protection orders to a 106-year-old double-storey bungalow overlooking Balmoral Beach on Almora Street in Mosman, and a further six Federation-era workers’ cottages on Bydown Street in Neutral Bay.

Mosman residents Eve and John Bagnall, Bob Clark (centre) and Jill L’Estrange oppose the planned development in Almora Street.

The orders come amid a housing supply crisis that triggered statewide planning reforms aimed at making it easier to develop apartment blocks in established suburbs as part of the Minns government’s efforts to meet the Housing Accord target of 377,000 homes in NSW by July 2029.

Both the Mosman and Neutral Bay development proposals have faced significant community opposition. The planned $50.5 million, eight-storey Almora Street proposal generated more than 200 written objections from residents, while 547 people have put their names to a petition calling for the eight-storey Neutral Bay housing development to be stopped.

Under the heritage protection orders, developers will be prevented from commencing any demolition or construction work for at least six months, to allow the councils more time to assess whether longer-term protections are warranted.

Both proposals have been deemed refused by the councils, prompting the developers to lodge Land and Environment Court challenges and seek consent orders for construction works to commence.

Neutral Bay resident Glen Curyer launched the petition opposing the Bydown Street housing project.

Ross Norton, project director of CPDM – the developer of the Neutral Bay housing tower – said the delays could add more than $250,000 and nine months to the process.

“The council, in my view, is frustrated by development and is looking to find any mechanism to stop it, and this is just another battle we have to fight which will unfortunately add to the expense of delivering the project,” he said.

“Both the state and federal governments are actively encouraging developments in well-located areas such as Neutral Bay to address the housing supply challenges, and we think this project will help meet that challenge.

“The whole fabric of Sydney is changing and we’re not convinced that the application for a heritage order, in this case, is a genuine one. We have to admit that our society is changing and the housing response to those demands has to change as well.”

Council records show neither the Mosman nor Neutral Bay development site had been subject to heritage listings when the development plans were lodged – adding fuel to the debate over whether the existing properties are worthy of protection.

Submissions lodged by residents in response to the Mosman housing proposal have highlighted a multitude of concerns with the project, including fears the eight-storey tower could alter the character of the low-rise established streetscape.

Mosman resident Judith Pearson – who launched a crowd-funded Land and Environment challenge against the NSW government’s low- and mid-rise housing reforms – argued in a submission the development could “overwhelm the heritage landscape”, overshadow adjoining homes and “intrude upon views” that local planning laws are designed to preserve.

An artist’s impression of the redevelopment at Almora Street in Mosman.

Those concerns were echoed by resident Jill L’Estrange – a member of the Mosman Headland Preservation Group – who believes the interwar dwelling dating back to 1920 is worthy of preservation.

“Once you bulldoze heritage it’s gone for forever, and while there’s need for more housing in Sydney, it shouldn’t come at the expense of what makes our streetscapes appealing in the first place,” she said.

Tim Foote, a former real estate agent who serves as the chief executive of Prosker – the developer behind the Mosman tower – said the proposal was lodged in line with NSW planning reforms that aim to boost housing density close to town centres and public transport.

While declining to comment on the heritage protection order, he said the project had been designed to provide more housing choices – particularly for “downsizers” – in a part of Sydney where apartments were at a premium.

“People often simplistically look at Mosman and say building new apartments won’t address the affordability issue. And while that’s true to an extent, if you create more supply, it allows people from larger homes to downsize, which in turn frees up those properties, which addresses the affordability challenges Sydney is experiencing,” he said.

North Sydney Council said in a statement an independent report into the Bydown Street properties “indicated there was sufficient basis” to seek the heritage protection order, adding the “council has a responsibility to ensure development proposals [are] responsive to the public interest including potential heritage values”.

Mosman Council said in a statement: “While the Almora Street building may not have been previously identified by council as heritage significant, it had been flagged as potentially significant by a heritage expert” during the development assessment process.

The heritage protection orders will remain in place for the Neutral Bay site for six months, while the order in Mosman will be in force until October 30.

NSW Planning Minister Paul Scully has previously warned that councils must not use heritage as an excuse to avoid their housing responsibilities in the middle of a supply crisis.

In the past year, interim heritage orders have also been applied across other Sydney suburbs, including properties in Chatswood, Earlwood, Rockdale and Willoughby.

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