Objection to SSD Application - 100 Edinburgh Road

I object!

I am firmly in favour of development and provision of additional housing within the area. However, I strongly object to this high-density development which ignores the existing approved DA which was carefully planned after extensive consultation with local residents, Willoughby Council and which fully considered the Griffin heritage and the Griffin local conservation zone.

I fully support a development at 100 Edinburgh Rd that includes 4-5 storeys – and call upon the State Government and Minister Scully to reject an 11-story development which overrides community wishes, ignores heritage values, ignores the bushland setting, will create transport chaos – all to provide unaffordable housing for average residents within Sydney.

Inadequate Transport Infrastructure and total lack of planning to support development

Already, Castlecrag is poorly served by public transport options. There is no train, no Metro and residents are solely reliant on the inadequate bus network. The bus network cannot cope with the existing number of Castlecrag residents, let along consider adding 150-300 more residents via this proposed development. I work in the CBD and many peak hour buses (which come from the upper north shore) are already full by the time they get to Castlecrag on the way to the city. Because of the lack of bus transport options, residents have to resort to using car transport – which is not good for the environment, not cost effective with rising fuel costs, and already chokes the road infrastructure in Castlecrag. The lack of transport infrastructure is evidenced by Conquest’s proposal to include 376 car parks within the development.

The suburb and road infrastructure simply cannot cope with the amount of additional cars which would be proposed by this development. There is only one road into Castlecrag (Edinburgh Rd) and one way out – and at peak hour the cars are already backed up a couple of blocks waiting to pass through the lights at Eastern Valley Way. Adding hundreds of additional cars and additional 350+ parking places via this proposed development would create additional traffic chaos for residents, shop holders and workers in the local area.

Destroys Heritage of the Castlecrag area, an architecturally significant suburb within Australia

Castlecrag has a unique heritage courtesy of the vision of Walter Burley and Marion Mahoney Griffin. It is a significant area used by many of the Architecture schools within Australian universities who visit and study Castlecrag as an exemplar of building an development which pays respect to the landscape and nature.
The suburb is low-density, one-two-storey dwellings throughout the suburbs. The erection of a 11-storey tower is a mockery of the Burley Griffin heritage and totally unacceptable that a 11-story development would be even contemplated adjacent to the Heritage Conservation Area.

The State Government would be remembered as the Government and Party that allowed such an eyesore to be built – against the strong wishes of the local Council, local Members and the local Castlecrag community – all in support of developers building luxury not affordable housing options for Sydney residents.


I support appropriate and well-planned development

I fully support the existing Development Approval for the site at 100 Edinburgh Rd. I do not support the SSD planning application by Conquest.

The SSD application by the developer Conquest is misleading. It does not “maintain the intent and integrity of the existing DA”, as Conquest state in their application. It does not provide “a cohesive piece of architecture and landscape, with a design that aims to bring people closer to the natural world in a bushland setting”. It does not respect the landscape and Castlecrag’s bushland setting. It does not respect Castlecrag residents and the extensive consultation which led to the approved DA.

The Castlecrag community supports continued development to provide housing throughout the suburb and neighbouring suburbs. To evidence this, look at the numerous housing and unit developments that have occurred in the last five years along Eastern Valley Way through Northbridge/Castlecrag/Willoughby – all are 3-4 storeys and reflect the density of the neighbouring suburbs, reflect the availability of infrastructure within the local area (including transport).

Unlike the previous approved development for 100 Edinburgh Road, this proposal is a major departure from Castlecrag’s heritage and village character, and would be an anathema to what Walter Burley Griffin envisioned for the suburb.
It is concerning that this proposal has been suddenly sprung on the community with virtually no consultation.
The height and scale of this proposal are totally out of keeping with other developments in the area and are inappropriate for a low rise suburb like Castlecrag.
The suburb is not serviced by rail or metro, only by bus services which are limited.
There are only two roads in and out of Castlecrag. Without doubt this would lead to more traffic and impact the local streets which are very narrow with major parking, safety and noise concerns.
Eastern Valley Way and Edinburgh Road are already congested with high volumes of traffic and long queues at peak times. How the major intersection at Eastern Valley Way and Edinburgh Road would cope with the extra traffic is not addressed.
In a high cost area such as Castlecrag, this proposal will not assist in solving the affordable housing and rental shortage.
There is nothing in this oversized proposal that is likely to benefit the local community.
I strongly object to this proposal.

I write in support of the proposed development at 100 Edinburgh Road, Castlecrag.

While the proposal differs from some of the traditional built form within the immediate surrounding area, I believe it represents an appropriate and positive evolution of the locality. Well-designed residential development is necessary to meet the changing housing needs of Sydney’s population, particularly in established and highly desirable suburbs with strong access to services, employment and public transport.

Importantly, the proposal appears to demonstrate a high level of architectural consideration and presents a contemporary design outcome that will contribute positively to the streetscape and broader urban environment.

The development also has the potential to provide additional housing opportunities within an established area while encouraging renewal and investment within the suburb. As Sydney continues to grow, it is important that quality developments such as this are supported in suitable locations.

Accordingly, I respectfully request that favorable consideration be given to the application.

The proposal is inappropriate in scale for a location that has no public transport and is otherwise low-rise. The 11 storey building will add to traffic congestion at an already choked major intersection. There is only one way in and one way out from Castlecrag - the addition of 400 cars will produce traffic gridlock in the peninsula. I observe this gridlock daily, often having to join a long queue of cars to leave the peninsula in the morning. No improvement to access to Castlecrag is proposed to alleviate the addition of 400 cars. Developments of this scale are appropriate near public transport hubs - there is almost no public transport in Castlecrag. There are no other buildings of this scale nearby; there is no attempt to integrate the building with the surrounding heritage-listed community landscape. It will look like an eyesore next to 2 storey buildings and houses. The policy being used to get around existing planning controls is for affordable housing, yet almost no affordable housing is being proposed in the development. It appears that the developer is attempting to use a policy to support public housing for its own profit, while leaving the surrounding residents with a daily traffic nightmare, no public transport and an ugly building next to heritage-listed community landscapes. The scale of this block would be appropriate near the newly constructed metro, not in the middle of a bushy, heritage-listed, peninsula. The original proposal for a 5-7 storey building is appropriate in scale for the area; 11 stories of expensive apartments is not. The only entity benefiting from this development is a wealthy developer - NOT people looking for affordable housing. If the government approves this proposal, it will not solve the affordable housing crisis; instead, it will create a new infrastructure crisis.

This new development application for the beautiful heritage suburb of Castlecrag amounts to vandalism.
There is a beautiful approved DA ready to go, consistent with the heritage values, developed with broad community consultation and a design competition with high profile and respected judges including Elizabeth Farrelly.
This new DA has no merit, no community support and bears no relationship to the existing DA. The site does not meet the criteria for Low and Mid Rise Housing Policy (LMR) or Transport Oriented Development (TOD). It will not contribute to housing affordability or address the housing shortage as it is a high-end development.
This new DA is totally inconsistent with the Griffin philosophy of buildings being subservient to the environment. It is the wrong scale in the wrong place. It will tower over the adjoining Griffin Conservation Area and be an ugly and permanent reminder of greed, abrogation of planning principles and possible corrupt processes.
The Castlecrag community is opposed to this development. Please reject it and insist on the existing approved DA-2024/13 which will complement not destroy this internationally renowned heritage suburb.

My objection is the traffic and accessibility issues that the revised plan will create. I have no objection to the original proposal but it is abundantly clear to local residents that the revision of the plan to 11+ storeys with the accompanying car parking increase is not workable. An INDEPENDENT traffic assessment should be undertaken. We have one main road (Edinburgh Rd) into and out to the suburb. Unless the new traffic can be diverted to an Eastern Valley Way entry/exit only then this development will create a long term accessibility issue for Castlecrag. It will clearly be difficult for residents trying to exit/enter the suburb in peak hour - as well as having a flow on impact to the north bound commuters who turn left onto Eastern Valley Way road in the evening (as there will be banked up traffic on the western side of Edinburgh road). Not only will there be daily traffic issues but the plan also puts the safety of residents at risk in the event of a bush fire - the only exit point for the suburb would be a bottle-neck. I am happy to discuss but the long- term impact on residents need to outweigh the short-term profit motivation of the developer. As stated at the start of my submission, I am supportive of the original proposal but not the current 11+ storey submission. Ultimately, I do not understand why the current proposal is even being considered when the original submission was approved and the revised plans height limit exceeds the Northbridge town centre height limit (which is a more established “town” than Castlecrag).

I do not agree with the current proposal for a tall structure. It isn't in keeping with the character of Castlecrag and will create traffic chaos entering in and out of the suburb.

The proposed development at 100 Edinburgh Road is grossly unsuitable for the location and should not be approved.

In particular, the scale of the development, including the number of apartments and the size of the supermarket and other retail included in the development, is significantly out of proportion with the location on a major urban road intersection with Eastern Valley Way which is the only safe exit point for all vehicular traffic from the Castlecrag peninsula. The increased traffic generated by the proposed development is likely to unreasonably impact the time required to exit the peninsula, particularly for emergency travel, during school drop off and pick up times, during peak hour commuter times and during peak shopping times. The increased traffic generated will also have a significant impact on all other users of the intersection, particularly people traveling in private vehicles and public buses to and from the Forestville and northern beaches areas that are forced to use Eastern Valley Way. In summary, all people on buses, vehicles, bikes and as pedestrians using the Edinburgh Road/Eastern Valley Way intersection during elevated traffic times will be adversely affected by the traffic generated by this development.

In addition, the proposed development is completely out of character and does not belong in the particular location. For good reason, residents of NSW do not support hotels being built next to schools or factories being built in the middle of residential areas. The proposed development is equally inappropriate at the location because of its grossly overscale size compared to the surrounding residential areas, its impact on habitat (loss of trees), its impact on heritage areas, its limited community facility, its visual impact and its lack of contribution to the amenity of the area.

The legitimacy of the development application is also affected by the quality and nature of the community consultation conducted by the developer. While they claim to have ticked all the boxes on community consultation in reality they have clearly demonstrated they had no intention of listening to feedback from the community and were not prepared to modify its proposal based on feedback. Their behaviour indicates they are attempting to game a planning system introduced in good faith by government to try and address a shortage of reasonably priced residential accommodation in the Sydney region. This type of approach by developers should not be rewarded.

The developer has purchased a site with an existing development proposal that has been approved through the proper channels following extensive community consultation. The approved development for the site includes the addition to the Castlecrag community of a number of new residences (I believe 39 in total) which is significant in itself and far more appropriate for the site and the community. The developer should be required to complete the approved development or sell the site to another developer who will. If the developer has paid a premium for the site on the basis they could secure a totally inappropriate increase in scale that is their problem and neither the community or the taxpayer should not be penalised.

This building is much larger than the original development which was approved and supported by the local community. Castlecrag is a unique heritage suburb and a building of this scale will significantly negatively impact the amenity of the surrounding streets. It will be an oversized structure which does not fit with the surrounding buildings and public spaces. There is no train by this building, it does not need to be this enormous.

There is already an approved DA for the medium density housing for the site which fits in with the character of the suburb. The proposed building is out of scale with the surrounding area. The bus only public transport will be insufficient to cater for the additional residents, which will lead to more cars on Edinburgh Rd. Edinburgh Rd/Eastern Valley Way intersection is already congested on some mornings so will not cope with the additional cars from 150 apartments. I agree that we need to increase housing in Castlecrag but it should done in a way sensitive to the surrounding area - eg the developments along Eastern Valley Way. Buildings of the height proposed in the development belong in centres like Chatswood, Crows Nest or St Leonards. Castlecrag is not on the rail or metro line - how can this development be considered state significant?