Sydney’s “ugliest road” is again being touted as the next development hotspot, with plans by the Minns government to rezone and develop about 8,000 new homes along Parramatta Road in Leichhardt and Camperdown, in the city’s inner west.
The state government and Inner West councillors have agreed to partner on rezoning along the Parramatta Road corridor to deliver a major boost to housing close to the CBD.
The proposed rezoning would cover the section of Parramatta Road within the Inner West local government area, complementing work already under way with Inner West, Burwood and Canada Bay councils.
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It will begin with areas of Parramatta Road in Leichhardt and Camperdown, close to the city, and is likely to result in rezonings to allow buildings of between six and 20 storeys.
But unlike earlier plans, which proposed putting a light rail down Parramatta Road and limiting the amount of traffic on what was once the major artery between the city and Parramatta, this plan relies on existing transport.
“The transport corridor, which is currently serviced by a significant number of bus, light rail and train routes, is close to the Sydney CBD, with direct access to major hospitals including Royal Prince Alfred hospital, a number of local public schools with existing capacity and green space,” the government said in its announcement.
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, said on Sunday that Parramatta Road had been talked about for decades, with little result.
“This is one of the most expensive cities on earth, [and] we’re told repeatedly that the reason for that is there’s not enough housing,” Minns said.
“If we don’t provide housing for young people, for the next generation, they will not call Sydney home.
“We’ve not been doing that. We can create new homes for the next generation while maintaining the beauty of local communities and having a vibrant, exciting place to live.
“At the moment, we are so far behind. Sydney is the 800th densest city in the world. It doesn’t mean we’re going to turn into Tokyo overnight – no one is suggesting that. But there is a halfway house where we can have appropriate development in the right spot.”
Parramatta Road is a boulevard of broken dreams, with previous ambitious and visionary plans stalling, leaving the Victorian-era shops, small factories and car yards that line the 23km road increasingly decrepit.
In 2001, landscape architects McGregor Coxall won an international design competition run by a consortium of councils.
It proposed mid-rise along the road and installing a light rail – turning it into a largely car-free, pedestrian-friendly boulevard. However, fears that the light rail would lead to more congestion on the main artery halted the idea.
In 2017, the previous Coalition government rezoned several areas for medium-density builds of about six storeys. But the costs of consolidating sites from terrace-style, Victorian shops appeared to deter development.
The latest plan for a rezoning around Leichhardt and Camperdown will be voted on by Inner West council on 22 September. It is in addition to the 31,000 new homes in its Fairer Future plan, which the council is proposing as an alternative to the government’s transport-oriented development (Tod). Fairer Future focuses on higher densities around Ashfield and Petersham.
The Inner West mayor, Darcy Byrne, said: “Our Inner West community wants to see more desperately needed new homes delivered and local people are telling us that the Parramatta Road corridor is the right location for higher residential densities.”
“By partnering with the government to build more homes on Parramatta Road, we can give more of our young people and essential workers a place to live in the inner west, and make sure that increased density is distributed fairly across our whole community,” he said.
The government has already declared eight projects along Parramatta Road as “state significant” through the Housing Delivery Authority. On one government-owned site – the WestConnex dive site – it has agreed to 20 storeys in return for 500 units, including 200 affordable homes for key workers.
Greater densities at Homebush and North Burwood have also been approved to deliver up to 19,600 homes.
“We will look at tranport as part of the rezoning,” Byrne said, but noted that “complicated transport solutions” like the proposed light rail had caused earlier plans to stall because of concerns they might worsen congestion on Parramatta Road.
The minister for planning and public spaces, Paul Scully, said: “Parramatta Road needs more homes and jobs in vibrant communities. It’s a major transport corridor that connects so many communities to the city but it can be so much than a tired thoroughfare”.
