No Lewisham Towers

Documents posted on the Department of Planning and Infrastructure site this week indicate that the the government’s Planning Assessment Commission has been advised to give the go ahead for the Lewisham Towers development.

The documents include this approval:

“A1 Concept approval is granted to the development as described below:
(a) use of the site for residential, retail, commercial and public open space;
(b) indicative building envelopes for 7 separate buildings with heights ranging from 4 to 10 storeys;
(c) basement level and at grade car parking;
(d) internal and external road works;
(e) public pedestrian and cycle pathways. Providing connections to the surrounding area, the Lewisham railway station and Lewisham West light rail stop.”

Whilst many of the recommendations made to the PAC are deeply disappointing to all who have campaigned for a better site outcome, the Commission is not obliged to follow these recommendations. We expect the PAC to hold a public meeting before making a decision. Be sure to keep in touch and be on the look out for more news soon.

View Analysis

The NoLewishamTowers campaign presented a submission on the Lewisham Towers development application to the Department of Planning today.

We have identified many concerns with the development; both with the decision-making process, and with the content of the planning application. You can read the full submission here, but some key points are:

• The developer has made substantial changes to the plan since it was last exhibited to the public – NLT believes the latest plan should be placed on public exhibition before proceeding further.
• If the latest plan is not re-exhibited, and is not handed back to the local council, it should be assessed by an independent planning assessment committee.
• We have highlighted a number of errors and inconsistencies in the plan submitted by the developer, and have asked for an independent Registered Land Surveyor to report back to the department on these issues.
• Detailed analysis by NoLewishamTowers of the developer’s photo-montages shows they are grossly in error and that the true impact of the building is more than double the height depicted by the developer.
• The Lewisham Towers site must be assessed in conjunction with the neighbouring Allied Mills site – the traffic and many other impacts of both developments must be assessed together.
• The density (FSR) of the plan is more than double that specified under Marrickville council’s McGill St Masterplan.
• The building heights depicted in the developer’s application are misleading. See our view analysis here.  Because of this misleading information, an independent assessment of the overshadowing of the proposed buidlings must be made.
• This proposal must be rejected in its present form.

Would you like to live next door to multi storey tower blocks?  A huge overdevelopment has been proposed for Lewisham, at the corner of Old Canterbury Rd and Longport St.
View Lewisham Part 3A development map in a larger map

The development includes 9,6 and 4 storey towers and a large supermarket mall with basement car parking.  Would you like to live next door to nine storey tower blocks?

The developer has bypassed council and the local community and gone straight to the state government for approval under the controversial Part 3A law.

• Overdevelopment
• Traffic congestion and pollution
• Community disruption
• New precedents for building size for the Inner West
• Local shopping strips hurt – Petersham, Dulwich Hill, Summer Hill
• Interferes with the Cooks River to Iron Cove Greenway project

Read all about the developer’s plans on the PLANS PAGE  (please note this has been updated very recently)
If you want to oppose this development TAKE ACTION.

You may have heard that last week the revised development proposal for the industrial site on the corner of Old Canterbury Road and Longport Street Lewisham, was posted on the Department of Planning (DoP) website.

These plans include even more units than in the previous proposal.

So now it is time for you to be active.

During the last few months the No Lewisham Towers Residents Action Committee has been monitoring progress with the Lewisham Estates’ development proposal.
We have also been concerned about a similar proposal for the Allied Mills site in Summer Hill adjacent to the Lewisham site just across the railway goods line.
Together with a Summer Hill residents’ action group (SHAG), we have been lobbying for a better outcome than what has been proposed.

Please check our information sheet and print out a submission letter and send to the Director of the Department of Planning. Or even better, write your own letter.

To view the revised plans go to the SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Even bigger development proposed", url: "http://www.nolewishamtowers.org/?p=433" });