10 July 2017

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No reduction in Dulwich Hill dwellings: government called on to explain

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Dulwich Hill residents have called on the NSW Government to clarify dwelling projections for the suburb, after new figures revealed that the suburb and neighbouring Marrickville are bearing the brunt of dwelling increases in the corridor.

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In his media release issued on 25 June, Planning Minister Anthony Roberts claimed that the number of dwellings proposed for Dulwich Hill has dropped by 1,400 compared to the initial plans for the Sydenham to Bankstown corridor released in October 2015.

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In fact, an analysis of the figures in the revised strategy shows that Dulwich Hill will still be required to accommodate 2,000 new dwellings, which represents only a marginal reduction from the 2,059 new dwellings in the 2015 strategy.

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What’s more, neighbouring Marrickville will be seeing its proposed dwelling numbers increase by 51 per cent to 6,000 and aircraft noise-affected Sydenham will see an increase by 474 per cent to at least 500 homes.

 

Overall, the Inner West Council area will see its proposed dwellings increase by 39 per cent while the dwellings proposed in Canterbury Bankstown will fall by 10 per cent – putting to bed media speculation that the impacts of the strategy have been moved west. (See table below).

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Save Dully spokesperson Mary O’Sullivan said it was alarming that the Minister had singled-out Dulwich Hill as having a significant dwelling reduction without any supporting information in the relevant Dulwich Hill plan or separately supplied to the community.

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“This is an odd claim and one that appears to be designed to remove momentum from our campaign and pit suburb against suburb, rather than to inform the community,” she said.

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“The fact of the matter is that these plans continue to destroy too much of the historic, diverse and fine-grain character of Dulwich Hill, while at the same time failing to properly plan for infrastructure and open space provision alongside this growth.

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“It is particularly concerning that the strategy doesn’t have a single word to say about increasing school capacity in the Inner West Council area, despite 8,500 new dwellings coming to the council’s three Bankstown line stations.”

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Ms O’Sullivan said the dwelling reduction claim gets even murkier when you consider the Department said the Dulwich Hill precinct had 5,591 existing dwellings in 2011 and the revised strategy said the suburb had 4,218 in 2016.

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“Somehow, over the last two years, we’ve lost 1,373 dwellings – a fact that anyone living in Dulwich Hill would know is laughable given the growth we have experienced in dwellings,” she said.

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“Given that the 2015 strategy contained massive errors in our suburb including churches and water-filled brickpits being shown as parks and the proposed comprehensive development of a gazetted heritage conservation area, we don’t have any confidence in the NSW Government and its funny figures.”

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See our video on the ongoing impacts in Dulwich Hill below:

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