WHY IS SUPPORT LINDFIELD GETTING INVOLVED?
Ku-ring-gai Council has developed a Draft Ku-ring-gai Housing Strategy (as have all other Sydney Councils as part of the State Government’s strategic directions) that seeks to cater for the foreseen increase in population density through to 2036. Public submissions and comments on the Draft close this Friday 8th May with so far, no extension of the public exhibition period despite the entire period having coincided with the Covid lockdown.
It calls for an additional 1600 dwellings in Lindfield over the next 15 years and sets out three scenarios. As part of catering for Sydney’s growth it seeks to increase the dwelling density within 800m of Lindfield Station.
The Housing Strategy purports to provide the right mix of dwelling types - low, medium and high intensity/density - to meet the needs of the community into the future and the extent of the suburb that will be consumed. The Draft includes low, medium and high intensity/density development options for Lindfield, the difference being the dwelling forms and extent of the suburb that is consumed. Unfortunately, the information is not well presented or explained, and it is difficult for non-planners (i.e. the community) to understand and assess the outcomes and impacts of the three options. All scenarios impact on the character of the suburb and others will remove the existing housing character.
Two of the three scenarios provided in the Housing Strategy contemplate building heights of 10 to 15 storeys. One of these appears to show this height limit on the Lindfield Village Hub site. Support Lindfield is concerned that this could give Council a basis for seeking to further increase the maximum building height of the Hub in the future, despite Council’s resolution on 20 August 2019 to limit the Hub to 9 storeys.
Support Lindfield has therefore taken some time to look at the strategy and we think you will be interested in it too – both in terms of the Hub but also more broadly given the implications for our local area. With newfound technology capability we have put together a short presentation that explains some of our ideas to look more broadly than what is in the Draft. Click here to watch.
We intend to lodge an initial submission and follow up with a more detailed one to Councillors (your elected representatives) based on an online community survey that we intend to run over the next month.
You can find the Housing Strategy documents at this link on the council website.
For a quick look at the three scenarios in the Strategy, go to Councillor Sam Ngai’s Facebook page at this link.
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
Consider telling the Council you are interested, and will contribute to Support Lindfield’s community survey, by going to this Council website page
Click the green comment button and say something like –“We wish to participate in the planning of our suburb and will contribute via Support Lindfield’s survey. We request the extension of the closing date for submissions for at least 4 weeks beyond 8 May due to the lockdown restrictions.”
Of course, feel free to say more (up to 300 words) or better still write a submission and upload it to the same website page.
Thanks for your interest and help. As usual you can contact us at info@supportlindfield.net with any comments or questions.
Regards,
The Support Lindfield Team