On behalf of the property owner at 8 Shadforth Street Paddington, I wish to submit an objection to the above-referred application.

The application has not adequately considered within its design and justification the following core concerns;
A - The Development Does Not Genuinely Qualify for SSD Status
B - The Affordable Housing Component Worsens the Housing Crisis and Misuses the SEPP
C - Excavation Depth and Structural Risk to neighbouring properties
D - Impact to the Heritage Fabric - the First 8-Storey Development in Paddington in 50 Years
E - The Basement Car Park Design requires clarification
F - Traffic and Construction Impacts

We request you acknowledge this submission in reply and the applicant address the above concerns and that you update as it progresses.

How is this proposal fair or equitable? Is this in the public interest to demolish 27 affordable studios and replace them with 30 luxury apartments and 10 supposedly affordable apartments that will only be offered at a reduction of market rent (the developers say the rent will be up to 85% of market price - page 16 EIS) for 15 years?

Which essential works are going to be able to afford 85% of the market rent for apartments in Paddington?

The 10 “affordable” apartments are all located on the lower floors, are smaller in size and face Oxford St so as well as being smaller, they will be subject to much more noise than the build to sell apartments.
The for sale 1B apartments are 53, 63 and 67m2. The 5 x 1B affordable apartments are all very small at 50m2.
The for sale 2 B apartments are all located at the rear of the building where they will not have the street noise impact and are 83m2.
The 4 x affordable 2 B apartments are at the front of the building and are 72, 73, 76 and 77 m2. This is up to 10m2 smaller.
There is only 1 x 3B affordable apartment which is also the smallest 3B apartment in the development.
83 underground parking spaces for 40 apartments? Why do they need so many? Will any of the ‘affordable’ apartments have car spaces?

The agreement to allow 30% extra height and GFA should require the affordable apartments to actually have the same amenity as the for sale apartments and at an affordable rent. This is NOT the case in this proposal.

Paddington is one of the very few environments where there has been a long history of preservation of heritage properties. This proposal is totally out of character with the surrounding heritage properties and should not be allowed.

Dear sir/madam,
Please find my letter of objection attached.
Yours sincerely,
Lucy Wheatley

Paddington is the largest Victoria village extant in the world. We do not want historic Paddington to turn into third world wind tunnel Bondi Junction with its anonymous modern skyscrapers - 60 years ago, Bondi Junction was as well a Victorian village. Now it a third world charmless slum of the future. The project is just too big for the site - it screams at the most beautiful gates of the Victoria Barracks 1837, and affronts the longest sandstone wall in the world. It is totally out of place. Further along Oxford street past Queen St in Woollahra, a series of degraded terraces have been restored with sympathetic restoration of their Victorian integrity. A magnificent project which guards the charm of our precious heritage. The project at 160 Oxford st we see as the thin edge of the wedge of the destruction of our village, unique in the world and on which our clients interstate and abroad always remark on. Years ago, when I was at school, there was a proposal to widen jersey Rd In Paddington and there were posters all over saying "to widen Jersey Rd is to destroy Paddington." Jersey Rd was not widened and Paddington has not been destroyed. As a resident of 40 years running the older gallery in NSW, I could not object more wholeheartedly to what I see as an anonymous overly large mistake which will rob our descendants of their colonial heritage. There is a law of diminishing returns, that when a building is pulled down, its successor is never a beautiful as what was destroyed. Dominic MAUNSELL.

I strongly object to the proposed 14-storey development at 160 Oxford Street, Paddington. Paddington is defined by its historic, low-rise terrace streetscape and heritage character. A tower of this scale is completely out of context and would permanently damage the visual integrity and character of the area through excessive height, bulk, overshadowing and loss of privacy for surrounding homes.

Approving a development of this scale would also set a dangerous precedent for further high-rise proposals in a suburb that has long been protected for its heritage value. Paddington’s narrow streets and infrastructure are already under pressure, and introducing a development of this magnitude would erode the very qualities that make the suburb special. For these reasons, this proposal should be rejected.

I strongly object to the height, the scale and the precedent. This development will threaten the historic, low-rise streetscape and create enormous traffic congestion on the small streets.

I object to the proposed development at 160 Oxford Street, Paddington on the grounds of its excessive height, bulk and overall scale, which are completely out of character with the surrounding low-rise heritage streetscape and will result in significant overshadowing, loss of privacy and traffic impacts for existing residents. The approval of a 14‑storey tower on this site would set a highly undesirable planning precedent for further high‑rise development in Paddington, effectively opening the door for similar over‑scaled projects that would permanently erode the historic character and human scale of the area. I also strongly object to the developer’s attempt to characterise what is clearly an ultra‑luxury development, with extensive car parking and multiple swimming pools, as “affordable housing”; this is misleading, undermines the genuine intent of affordable housing provisions, and should not be accepted as a basis for bonus height or floor space concessions.

The height and scale of this development are too large and will alter the character of Paddington and way of life for residents.