Community groups divided over proposed Inner West heritage sites
Image: Inner West Council Proposes new and extended heritage conservation areas. Image: Inner West Council/Facebook.
By JUSTIN COOPER
New potential heritage conservation areas (HCA) have opened for public consultation by the Inner West Council, with some community groups divided on whether the areas will restrict future community development.
The new HCA proposal sites and extensions were introduced by council last week, with nine new sites proposed mainly within the Marrickville and Dulwich Hill area.
If areas are approved for HCA they would be protected for its heritage conservation, which limits the amount of physical changes and development on the existing properties.
Community advocacy group Sydney Yimby says 1300 properties will be included under the proposed HCA and will “effectively prohibit any new density in the affected areas.”
“Bold plan” for the future
City Hub spoke with Chair of Sydney Yimby, Justin Simon, on the group’s advocacy against council’s submissions.
Simon explains the current development control plans around Marrickville in limiting potential building upgrades, saying “[DCP] bans extensions higher than the existing roof, most subdivisions and all lot amalgamations.”
“The houses in these conservation areas are some of the biggest and most expensive in their respective suburbs.”
Expressing the need for the community to “embrace new urban density,” Simon recalls past impacts from limiting new development in decreasing affordable housing options.
“When new housing isn’t built we know that the median age ticks up every census, and the number of non-English speakers drops very quickly, as it has in Haberfield. Migrants and low income people made Marrickville great, and preserving architecture over community will kill what’s left.”
Simon declares that a “bold plan” is needed within Marickville and Dulwich Hill, through “low-rise apartments and townhouses up to four storeys” and increasing density around stations which can properly address demand.
“This will provide the community space to grow and thrive, reinvigorate tired local shopping strips and increase walkable amenity exponentially,” continued Simon.
“But this can’t happen if we keep creating private estates which nobody under the age of 50 can afford, as this proposal to heritage conserve another 1300 homes will do.”
Managing change
Contrarily, Marrickville Heritage Society supports the new proposals by council saying new and extending HCA’s will help support the environmental heritage and will limit over-development.
President of Marrickville Heritage Society Scott MacArthur, told City Hub that “heritage protection does not seek to stop change, or turn our suburbs into museums – it rather aims to manage change.”
“Heritage listing can help prevent the worst excesses of over-development, while the essential fabric and character of the environment that the community values are retained,” says MacArthur.
Noting the extensive process of consultations amongst experts and multiple levels of government to approve heritage protection, MacArthur explains the process of any changes for any HCA would “ensure that it retains its heritage values and vitality.”
“Established buildings that have outlasted their original uses have been adapted and repurposed for new uses for millennia,” continued MacArthur. He also noted that the Marrickville area has one of the highest proportions for affordable housing in NSW, which is contributed from the conversion of heritage buildings to flats and boarding houses.
Marrickville has the second highest number of boarding houses in the Inner West LGA, whilst the LGA itself ranks second behind City of Sydney LGA for the highest number of boarding houses in NSW.
“Competent architects, working with experienced heritage professionals and enterprising developers have demonstrated that heritage does not stop affordable housing – it enriches it!”
The new sites follow an investigation from council which extended Interim Heritage Orders on Macarthur Parade in Dulwich Hill earlier this year, which extended heritage areas due to the historic presence of many of the properties.
Inner West Council is currently requesting public consultation from locals on the HCA proposals, opened for public opinion and review until August 13.
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