I object to the excessive height of the proposed development.

The project is not in keeping with the Wickham Village plans. Wickham is an old historic village with many miners cottages and narrow, already congested streets. Problems will arise both during construction and after completion, if the development goes ahead.
The height is much higher than any other surrounding buildings in Newcastle. It will cause over shadowing and loss of light, to all the surrounding existing dwellings. It is not in keeping with the suburb.

Also I believe there are many errors and inconsistencies in the planning documents.
The fire planning is not appropriate. The equipment needed to fight a fire in such a tall building does not currently exist in Newcastle. The evacuation procedures have residents evacuation into a lobby not directly to the outside.
The documents talk about Sydney Council and Sydney Water being involved. Wickham is a suburb of Newcastle!

The illustrations of the completed building are misleading. For example to size of the "walkway" between buildings is shown as much larger than it really is so the pictured social activity could not occur.
The sketch of the building surrounded by equally large towers is deceptive, these buildings do not, and may never exist.

attached

Please see my attached submission.
Charlotte McCabe

The design can incorporate green space features and sufficient public space should be appropriate. Appealing streetscape is called for as it is tall building in among existing buildings. Quality construction is required.
The mixture of affordable housing, co-living, residential housing and hotel rooms plus retail spaces will be a difficult design to create a good functioning strata scheme that is fair and manageable.

I am opposed to the size of the construction of this building and the safety issues that will result if it is constructed.
The previous proposal for a similar residential building to those currently in the area, would add to the issues outlined below but not to the scale of this new proposal.
The streets in the direct area of the construction and surrounding street are narrow mostly one way and unable to be widened. The proposed building will only be able to be accessed via Charles and Danger Streets. These two streets are narrow and currently struggle to be safely used in both direction by traffic. Surrounding streets such as Bishopsgate and Station Streets are also one way in sections. All this contributes to traffic congestion and confusion from motorist.
The light rail is a key piece of infrastructure in the future development of Newcastle. Yet currently the only way to access it is via these same narrow streets currently under pressure. I often see cars trying to access the limited pickup and drop off area creating traffic and pedestrian safety issues. Traffic can often back up as far as Hannel Street. This is a busy fast moving high traffic road. Traffic backed up on to this road will only end in disaster.
There is no way to widen any of these Streets and as more people look to use the light rail these issues will grow. To then add traffic of a building this size and including the light to medium sized transport required to service the commercial and hotel services proposed for this construction will only add further to the congestion.
I cannot see sufficient areas designated to meet these loading zone and with a building this size removal vans will be parked and blocking traffic flow on a regular basis.
These issues seem minor but as a person who uses the streets daily the issue is obvious. Large numbers of vehicles, growing pedestrian usage on narrow streets will end up in congestion and serious accidents.
You cannot just continue to build large multi-purpose building of this size in areas that will bloke access to public facilities and knowingly create issues that will put the public at risk.

The proposal to construct a 43 story building at the above address is out of character with the closest buildings being 14 story's which are one third in height of the proposed tower. it will spoil the aesthetics of the area so close to the harbour front. Approval has just been given for large developments at Honeysuckle HQ waterfront precinct and Marketown shopping centre, with tallest apartment buildings around 100 metres, not 152 metres. The new developments are within walking distance to the Interchange, which the Government is aiming for, so there will be plenty of accommodation for renters and owner occupiers. The previous Developer was going to build a 14 story apartment block and faced significant water and ground water issues from Newcastle Harbour. Therefore as the proposed 43 story building has 3 basement levels for 215 car parking spaces, hopefully the weight of the building will not stress the existing water seals or cause any unforeseen risks in the years to come. The extra cars will increase traffic congestion as the streets in the vicinity of the proposed building are narrow. The view down the harbour from East to West shows off our beautiful organised city, but will change completely if a 43 story skyscraper is built at the western end so close to the harbour, it will look conspicuous which will not fit with its immediate surroundings at this particular location. I believe 43 story buildings in Newcastle are fine but not in the proposed location, as mentioned in this submission. It would be good to show Premier Minns a 3D visualisation or a scale model of the area and get his thoughts on this matter. In conclusion, I respectfully submit my concerns in this submission.

I wish to object to the proposed 43-storey development in my neighbourhood.

I am not opposed to development or increased housing density in principle. However, this proposal is significantly out of scale with the surrounding built environment and would be disproportionate to the existing character of the area.

A building of this height would place considerable pressure on local infrastructure, including roads, parking, traffic management, and community services. The likely increase in vehicle movements from residents and visitors would add to congestion in an area that is already constrained and not designed to accommodate such a large concentration of people and cars.

While development is important, it should be appropriate to its location and supported by adequate infrastructure. In its current form, I do not believe this proposal achieves that balance.

I respectfully request that Council reject the application or require a substantially reduced building height and scale that is more consistent with the surrounding neighbourhood.

I request consideration of the attached objection which outlines concerns with height, density, traffic, community amenity and social impact .