Save Dully Residents'
Action Group
Save Dully October 2026 newsletter
There’s lots to report…so let’s get into it.
Fairer Future 2 - another Dulwich Hill block rezoned
As our subscribers may have seen, the Fairer Future 2 exhibition commenced on 16 September. It’s been reported that Council letters to affected owners only started arriving in early October, meaning many residents have lost valuable time to make a comment.
The main Dulwich Hill impact involves yet another block of our suburb rezoned to medium density development. This is the block bounded by Durham St, Durham Lane, Hercules St and Beach Rd, which is proposed to be rezoned to 4-6 storey housing.
The story behind this is a little complicated, so needs a few paragraphs to explain.
Inner West Council in September last year voted to adopt the first stage of Fairer Future, which when first released earmarked Dulwich Hill for 4,245 new homes - a 60% increase in our suburb’s dwelling numbers.
At the same meeting, it resolved to investigate, in the second stage of Fairer Future, rezoning Loftus St in Dulwich Hill (a small street which contains just seven homes).
The reason for this was because these homes could be impacted and overshadowed by the proposed tower in the Loftus St carpark to the north, and therefore the council felt there was a need to investigate to also rezone the Loftus St properties.
Instead, the consultants for council have recommended rezoning the entire block around Loftus St - around 30 homes. This seems extremely unnecessary, when there’s the opportunity with careful planning to contain this rezoning to Loftus St.
It’s also unnecessary given that Dulwich Hill is more than doing its bit in terms of housing supply, and there is a grave concern about the lack of open space and other infrastructure to support this planned housing growth.
Across the broader LGA, the impacts are huge - 15-storey towers in Croydon, 20-storey towers in Leichhardt and massive heritage area removals. If you can think of bad planning, it’s in there. A good analysis is available in this post by independent website Changing Sydney.
Use our submission guide to have your say on the plan here.
Vale Peter Manning
We were sad to hear that Peter Manning, a former Save Dully secretary, long-time Dulwich Hill resident and award-winning investigative journalist, had passed away. Peter’s funeral will be held at St Brigid’s Church Marrickville on 9 October.
Find out more about Peter’s legacy here
Rise Up Sydney: A conversation in the park on planning
On the afternoon of Saturday 17 October, communities from across Sydney are coming together at Goddard Park, Concord to say: we support more housing, but we need a fair plan.
We want housing that people can genuinely afford, close to jobs and family. We want schools, transport, health services, parks and other infrastructure to keep pace with population growth.
We want good design, liveable neighbourhoods and protection for the places and heritage communities value. And we want local people to have a genuine voice in decisions that will shape their neighbourhoods for generations.
Register for this free event here.
Save Dully needs helpers to distribute leaflets for the Concord rally and Fairer Future 2 plan. If you are able to help, please contact Karen on 0431 774 855.
Save the Hands Building
Inner West Council will soon be making a decision on its Development Control Plan (DCP) for the first stage of Fairer Future. Save Dully lodged a submission seeking a range of improvements, including better laneway activation and to retain public carparking. We also called for changes to stop the entire and much-loved Hands Building at the corner of Beach Rd and New Canterbury Rd from being demolished.
A community petition has now been created to support this move. Sign the petition here.
Terrace Rd development
There is significant concern about a major development proposed under the NSW Government’s Transport Oriented Development (TOD) scheme at 53-71 Terrace Rd, Dulwich Hill. The council’s alternative Fairer Future scheme will lead to a similar outcome.
This is a 9-10 storey development, with 174 apartments. There are significant concerns about parking and traffic impacts, but also that the development will unfairly isolate, overlook and overshadow two small home sites on the corner of Terrace Rd and Hercules St (with those sites unable to be feasibly developed in the future). This is very poor planning practice, and an example of a developer bullying the little person with the support of governments.
The Terrace Rd development is likely to go on exhibition soon. Follow its progress here.
Fairer Future Stage 1 status
We are still waiting for the NSW Government to make a decision on the first Fairer Future stage.
After concerns were raised that this stage was to proceed as a State-led rezoning, and therefore could change (including increase in scope) again, we’ve received verbal and written assurance from the council that this stage will be implemented by the government without change. We will wait to see if these reassurances are correct.
We remain unconvinced, and still concerned about the very significant impacts on our suburb (including almost no new open space alongside massive growth).