The Sydney developer, $166,000 in fines and the ‘exhausted’ street

1 week ago 6

Residents living in a street in Willoughby say their once-peaceful cul-de-sac has been turned into an “unbearable” construction zone due to a string of non-compliant building works at one of the largest housing projects on the north shore.

Willoughby Council has issued 20 separate fines totalling $166,000 to the head contractor of an 186-unit development on Walter Street due to multiple construction breaches of the site’s conditions of consent including polluting waters and obstructing public land.

The development under construction on Walter St in Willoughby.

Major work on the project has been under way for three years and has involved demolition of 21 homes on the northern side of the street to make way for five new apartment buildings up to 11 storeys tall.

Since work began, homeowners living on the southern side of the same street have repeatedly raised concerns to Willoughby Council over alleged non-compliant building work at the site including construction works undertaken outside approved hours, cracked roads and footpaths, and utilities – including water and power – cut off without notice.

The concerns of residents were given a public airing at a meeting convened by Willoughby Council, where homeowners spoke of their frustrations and called for more enforcement action by council compliance officers.

A concept photo of the multistorey housing development on Walter St in Willoughby

Resident Jonathan Buckland, who spoke at the meeting, said homeowners had endured almost three years of disruptive building work with no end in sight.

“Demolition began in 2022 and we’re now well into 2025 and we feel like it’s been a David and Goliath battle,” he told the meeting.

“We’ve had the road dug up multiple times, excavation, noise pollution from heavy machinery, damage to property, driveways blocked, utilities outages for water, gas, electricity.

“We’re effectively a construction site and we’ve hit the point of exhaustion and fatigue”.

The development has been subject to enforcement action by Willoughby Council.

Willoughby Council, in a statement, confirmed enforcement action on the site has resulted in 20 separate fines issued to the head contractor for breaches of development consent including polluting water and inadequate dust control.

The fines also include penalties for undertaking works without development approval, works carried out outside approved hours, obstructing footpaths and unauthorised works being undertaken from public roadways.

In a statement, Dasco, the head contractor appointed to the project, has blamed some of the breaches on bad weather including heavy rains that affected the stormwater system.

Dasco, in its statement, said some of the breaches were also due to “failures and breakdown” with a concrete supplier that resulted in “certain concrete pours” extending beyond hours that were permitted as part of the project’s conditions of approval.

A site plan of the Walter St development in Willoughby.

Dasco project manager Walid Haidar said the company was “aware of the concerns raised by the residents” and was holding fortnightly lunches where residents impacted by works could discuss their concerns.

“We are constantly endeavouring to ensure public health, safety and community satisfaction. It is within our company ethos to hold such tenets to a high standard,” Haidar said in a statement.

“We accept that we make mistakes at times, however we try to foresee any potential issues and attend to any other issues that have been raised.”

The enforcement crackdown comes as figures obtained by this masthead show other Sydney councils are issuing hundreds of fines and warning notices each year to developers breaching conditions of consent on building projects.

Some Sydney councils are dishing out hundreds of fines per year for building compliance breaches.

This includes Parramatta Council, whose officers dished out 248 fines totalling $1.13 million last financial year for offences.

Northern Beaches Council has also recorded a 30 per cent increase in developers breaching conditions of consent during the last financial year including on building sites where work has been undertaken outside approved hours, with some developers also fined for closing public roads without approval.

Lane Cove Council has issued 45 infringements in the past six months including to developers failing to comply with tree protection zones and controlling sediment on building sites.

The total largest infringement issued by the council was a $30,000 fine for pollution of waters at a development site at 42-46 River Road in St Leonards.

Strathfield Council will use the upcoming NSW Local Government Conference to raise a motion calling for councils to lobby the NSW government for councils to be given more power to undertake enforcement action in relation to illegal building works.

“Unauthorised building works continue to be a growing concern for councils across NSW – these activities often bypass local planning controls, reduce community safety, and undermine the intent of strategic land use planning,” the council’s motion will state.

“Compounding this issue is the lack of consistent and enforceable obligations on private certifiers, some of whom fail to report serious non-compliances, allowing unauthorised works to go unchallenged.”

NSW opposition fair trading spokesman Tim James also believes current fines should be increased to encourage developers to adhere to conditions of consent.

“Major construction projects will always be disruptive but conditions of consent have to be followed to ensure that residents living near building sites are given a fair go,” he said.

Willoughby Council in a statement said council enforcement officers would “undertake supplementary inspections” on the Walter St site to ensure works “do not unreasonably impact local safety, amenity, or the environment of the local area”.

The development, known as Willoughby Grounds, is one of the largest construction projects under way on the north shore, with apartments already being advertised to buyers as boasting “tranquillity”, “thoughtful designs” and “serenity”.

In a statement, a NSW Department of Planning spokesman said: “The NSW Government considers that councils have access to a range of escalating compliance tools available to them under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act to respond to breaches of development consent” including the option of launching court action for serious offences which can carry penalties of up to $5 million.