No Lewisham Towers

Following the approval of the development application for the Lewisham Towers site, NoLewishamTowers has written to Planning Minister Brad Hazzard asking him to step in and make the revised plans available to the public.

The development was given conditional approval, meaning that new plans will have to be drawn up by the developer to include:

• more central open space area with more sunlight
• clear definition of public and private open space areas
• increased space between buildings

NoLewishamTowers are concerned that if the new plans are not made public there may be a repeat of the original review process, when a lack of rigour by the Department of Planning meant that it was left to NLT to point out the errors and omissions in the developers plans.

NoLewishamTowers is calling on minister Brad Hazzard to guarantee the new plans will be made public, and that NLT and Marrickville Council will have the opportunity to review the plans to ensure they meet the requirements set by the Planning Assessment Committee.

Read the full text of our letter.

On 15th March the Planning Assessment Commission (PAC) approved the application for Lewisham Towers. The approval allows for:

• Seven buildings of between four and ten storeys
• More than 400 units
• 450 on-site parking spaces

NoLewishamTowers have run a long campaign to replace the Lewisham Towers plan with a plan more suitable to Lewisham, and the approval is a great disappointment. However there are are some reasons to be cheerful. In giving approval to the plan, the PAC included a number of conditions for the development to proceed:

• Almost three time more open space, and with less over-shadowing
• Buildings along Old Canterbury Road to be no more than four storeys
• Removal of plans for a supermarket in the development
• Reductions to the bulk of some of the buildings

You can see all documents related to the application at majorprojects.planning.nsw.gov.au, including the PAC Report and Determination.