On 13 November 2022, Save Dully's committee endorsed the following draft planning principles for our suburb.

 

We intend to further discuss these principles with the Dulwich Hill community, and further develop them into an updated version of Our Suburb, Our Future

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After noting that:

• Between 2015 and 2022, community uprisings have resulted in the abandonment of three failed intensive development schemes for our suburb (two by the NSW Government and one by the Council)

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• The Committee for Sydney, which lobbies on behalf of developers, has stated that the area around Dulwich Hill station is not a priority for urban renewal, because of the area’s heritage status and existing strata schemes – both of which are a constraint on development

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• The NSW Government’s 2021 official housing supply forecast has stated the suburb of Dulwich Hill is expected to contribute a modest 180-200 dwellings over the next five years, at the same time the Council has been planning for 380-460 homes in one section of the suburb

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• The Inner West Mayor, at the Council meeting of 9 August 2022, conceded the Council had been pursuing an overly concentrated housing growth model leading to inappropriate outcomes in Dulwich Hill

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• The Inner West Council’s Housing Strategy, developed in 2020, wasn’t sufficiently transparent as to how housing targets were developed, particularly relating to how some future potential  development sites, the likely uptake rate of new development and boarding houses and affordable housing affected the target rate

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• Before it released its plans for the suburb in August 2022, the Inner West Council had been working on these plans for more than two years, without at any stage informing or talking to the community

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• Save Dully in 2019 produced Our Suburb, Our Future, listing ten principles we think should be carefully considered in any planning for our suburb. This was followed in 2021 by our Heart of Dulwich Hill which suggested improvements to the Dulwich Hill town centre

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• Dulwich Hill has an unfortunate past record for poor quality design outcomes, including the Arlington Grove project and low quality projects near the station.

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Save Dully endorses the following updated principles for planning for the suburb. 

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1. Protect the existing low density residential fabric and character of our suburb

2. Improve our main village centre as an urban place

3. Use the GreenWay as the catalyst for a suburb-wide network of green streets and promotion of Dulwich Hill as an active transport hub

4. Share growth more evenly across the LGA

5. Ensure any Housing Strategy for the LGA considers and better incorporates existing growth and be transparent about future dwellings

6. Regularly review and respect Dulwich Hill’s rich built, social, natural and indigenous heritage value

7. Ensure there are strong controls and development assessment resources to guarantee high-quality design and build

8. Protect and grow Dulwich Hill’s unique commercial nature, including retain and encourage local shops and family-run businesses

9. Protect existing affordable housing and deliver new affordable housing on private and public land, in a way that respects local character

10. Retain and protect the existing biodiversity corridor

11. Deliver a transparent and ongoing conversation with the community about planning issues

12. Support community-led and human-scaled planning outcomes, as distinct to the failed intense development approach of the past

13. Ensure all new development has net zero greenhouse emissions, and if possible improve on this outcome