Inglis Stables community housing: 1.5% “doesn’t help”

BY DYLAN CRISMALE

The controversial development at the Inglis Family Stables in Randwick has made headway, after it was approved by the Land and Environment Court last month with a condition that developers Cbus Property follow a voluntary planning agreement.
Under the agreement with Randwick City Council Cbus Property will provide Council with affordable housing on the site at a rate of 1.5% the total number of dwellings.
A Randwick Council spokesperson said the agreement reflects Council’s concerns around the development.
“The decision is a satisfactory compromise for Council. Cbus amended their proposal to address Council’s issues. This led to an agreement between the parties that has been endorsed by the Court.
“This housing will be dedicated to Council at no cost and will be provided to key workers such as nurses.”
Cbus Property CEO Adrian Pozzo said the Council will have a portion of the development for affordable housing.

“Cbus Property will dedicate to the Council a minimum of 10 apartments for affordable housing, the historically-significant Newmarket Big Stable designated for community use, a 5,000-square-metre public park and six new roads under a voluntary planning agreement.”

The William Inglis & Sons property which will be marketed under the name Newmarket Randwick is located close to important infrastructure like the Prince of Wales Hospital and the University of New South Wales.
“This allocation of affordable housing would be ideal for health and education workers. We are pleased to be able to make this contribution to housing affordability in Randwick” said Mr Pozzo.
Some members of the community have expressed disappointment at the agreement, saying that they have been overlooked by council and the developers.
Vanessa Vecellio, a resident of Randwick for 30 years expressed concern over the development.
“We’re going to be surrounded by eight-storey blocks of units, on three sides in a horseshoe around this street. This was a heritage area called ‘Struggletown’, it was special.”
“It’s almost impossible to park here now and to get out in the mornings without 750 units going in on top of everything so I don’t know what it’s going to be like traffic-wise it’s going to be horrific.”
Nicola Lemon, CEO at Hume Community Housing Association acknowledged the need for affordable housing in Sydney and stated the problem was likely to be unsolved by one developer.
“Of 750 properties, 10 of them being affordable as a minimum doesn’t really help a situation where tens of thousands of households are in housing stress,” she said.
“You wouldn’t expect one development or developer to solve the problem but collectively if there was an agreement that imposed a certain percentage of affordable housing being built and managed by community housing providers then that would greatly assist the problem”.
One of the biggest concerns from members of the community is the fact that some of the eight-storey buildings will be looking straight into the local schools Randwick Boys and Randwick girls as well as a nearby primary school.
Randwick council suggested these concerns would be addressed later in the development process.
“The impacts on the schools have been lessened by the amended building envelopes. As this stage of the approval process only involves building envelopes, subsequent DAs for the actual buildings will still need to be assessed by Council in terms of their impacts on the surrounding neighbourhood,” a spokesperson said.
Ms Vecellio said the development approval has made her want to move away from the area.
“We’ve fought for 6 years and lost so it’s been very sad and we’ll probably be looking to move. We were never factored into this as a community I think that’s why everyone was so distressed because things happened over night, a bit like the light rail.
“Things happened at Christmas time when nobody could be there to stamp our feet. There were so many shady deals on this one we didn’t have a chance, it’s very sad, we’re stuck with it.”
Construction on one of the precincts, Newmarket Randwick, is scheduled to begin later this year. The property will be developed in three stages, with completion expected in early 2021.