The plan: one 16-storey tower, one 25-storey tower. The result: two 50-storey towers

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The final undeveloped portion of Wentworth Point, the peninsula that holds the title of being the country’s most populated postcode, is a step closer to being turned into two 50-storey apartment towers after a decision by the state government’s Housing Delivery Authority.

Prolific developer Billbergia, the local council, community groups and the state government have been fighting over the future of the Block H development since 2016. Control over the decision had flip-flopped from the City of Parramatta to the Department of Planning and back to the council, while the site remained what it had been for decades: an array of red sheds on the banks of an otherwise modern high-rise suburb.

Block H, the old sheds in the foreground, is the site of a years-long fight over what should go there.

The state government’s Housing Delivery Authority this week recommended Planning Minister Paul Scully declare Billbergia’s project as state significant, putting it on a separate development application pathway.

Under the “expression of interest” from Billbergia to the HDA, the block would contain 1200 apartments over the two buildings. In order to gain access to the height beyond what zoning allowed, Billbergia would provide 5 per cent of the apartments as essential worker housing, along with commercial premises and a childcare facility.

The developer needs to lodge an application to be assessed by the state government, but the recommendation marks a major milestone in Billbergia’s fight to allow a significant increase in the number of dwellings on the block.

The existing zoning controls allow for two towers, of 16 and 25 storeys, at different parts of the large site, which would allow the equivalent of about 300 apartments. In 2016, Billbergia pushed to be allowed to build 35 and 52 storeys, before proposing 25 and 40 storeys in 2022. When the Department of Planning took control of the decision in 2023, Billbergia applied to be allowed to build two 40-storey towers.

Billbergia’s progress has been opposed by many community members and leaders. The key complaint about the development from councillors and locals is that the peninsula community, east of Sydney Olympic Park, is groaning under a lack of infrastructure.

The only vehicle access to the area is the dilapidated and highly congested Hill Road, while the closest train station is Rhodes, a 20-minute walk across a pedestrian bridge. (The second stage of the Parramatta light rail project will cross through the suburb, but construction on that has not yet commenced.)

Donna Davis, the Parramatta MP who has been opposed to the development in the past, said she “cannot stress enough how important it is that local residents have their say”.

“Block H has been the subject of speculation for a long time, and it’s disappointing that no clear decision on the planning approvals for the Homebush Bay West [development control plan] were made by [the] council,” she said.

Billbergia development director Rick Graf said the HDA’s recommendation allowed the project to progress and would now be subject to a “rigorous merit assessment process”.

“In order to get recognition that there was a need for a Housing Delivery Authority pathway rather than the council pathway, we had to demonstrate the capacity to do more housing than was previously planned,” he said.

The HDA’s recommendation was the second for the site. The first was made in August, but Scully deferred the matter noting “the proposal will need to provide a greater commitment to affordable housing provisions given the significant uplift proposed”.

Graf said the company was invested in the community and would commit to running its free bus service between Wentworth Point and Rhodes train station, costing Billbergia $23 million, until the light rail arrives in the suburb in 2032.

The Sydney Morning Herald has opened a bureau in the heart of Parramatta. Email [email protected] with news tips.