Last Tuesday evening Councillors bowed to community pressure and did not support building height of 10 and 14 storeys in the Lindfield Village Hub! What a victory for people power! That’s the good news.
The not-so-good news is that they also voted against the original 2015 seven storey option. They did, however vote in favour of a maximum of 9 storeys and building height no higher than the highest building in Lindfield, which is the Aqualand building in Lindfield Avenue, at 8 storeys. The resolution also nominated the minimum size of the park, plaza, library and community facility which are the same size as the original 2015 Council plan. A copy of the resolution is at this link: Council Resolution
We thank all of you who took the time to send messages to Councillors both before the July meeting and leading up to the August meeting. They obviously had an effect and some common sense and listening to the community has prevailed even though we couldn’t quite get to the sought-after elusive seven storeys.
Your Support Lindfield committee is currently planning our next steps to build on this win and keep the pressure on Council to deliver what the community wants. We will await the publishing of the timetable for the next stages of the project. Geoff Douglas, the head of Major Projects for Council, said at the meeting that the Request for Tender would now not be issued before Christmas as there is more work to be done as a result of the change from the published plan to the compromise solution. We think that that is taking too long as it is already overdue according to the timeline currently on the Council website.
Surely the revision can’t take 4 months!
Jonathan O’Dea’s Address in Parliament
As our local State MP, Jonathan has constantly provided valuable support for us at Support Lindfield and for sensible development in the Hub. On Tuesday, the day of the Council meeting, he addressed the Legislative Assembly on the subject of the Hub. He was very pleased with the response from the Minister for Planning, Rob Stokes. Please read the Jonathan's Address at this link. Thank you, Jonathan, for recognising the community’s needs.
We would be very interested to hear your reaction to Council’s decision and invite you to email us at info@supportlindfield.net We will be considering our next steps and how to keep you, the community, involved as the project moves to its next stage. Thank you again for your support for this larger-than-life project that will positively transform the mid North Shore…….. sometime in the future! Who knows when?
Regards,
The Support Lindfield Team