Image: The Italian Forum in Leichhardt
by GRACE JOHNSON
The once bustling and vibrant shopping strip in Leichhardt known as “Little Italy” has become little more than a ghost town.
Cafés and small businesses have struggled to stay open, leading to many shopfronts now standing vacant with “For Lease” signs in the windows.
Amidst the ongoing debate between heritage and development in the inner west, some have argued that there isn’t enough development in Leichhardt, so many are locked out of living in the area.
Sydney YIMBY (Yes in My Backyard) Chair Justin Simon told City Hub, “The biggest contributing factor is, between 2001 and 2016. there was no new housing built.”
“Businesses need people within walking distance to be able to patronise them. And if you’re building new housing and turning over new housing, you’re creating space for young people to move in, for potential small business owners to move in.”
A Greens councillor from Inner West Council told City Hub that we’ve seen a steady loss of small businesses and retail shopfronts, meaning less people are inclined to go shopping in Leichhardt, especially when other suburbs and the CBD is only a quick bus ride away.
Councillor Marghanita Da Cruz on the Leichhardt Ward said one of the biggest problems is supermarket giants like Woolworths and Coles taking over from smaller businesses, and the new age of online shopping.
“Nobody’s buying retail, so the question actually is, what are people with their money? Business needs customers.”
“If people are buying online, then there’s no use in having a retail shopfront.”
But for YIMBY Mr Simon, more people in the suburb are needed to revitalise the area, meaning a need for more housing.
He said, “That’s not to say that there should be no heritage preserving, but we shouldn’t be locking down entire suburbs.”
“At my kid’s school, there have been two teachers, including her favourite one, that have actually had to leave the school and teach elsewhere because they can’t afford a home in the area anymore. So essential workers are also being pushed out.”
But some local residents point instead to the properties left vacant along Parramatta Road, echoing Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s calls for higher density along the busy road.
Gretchen Gamble, a Haberfield local that frequently visits Leichhardt, talked to City Hub about proposed higher densities in the area.
“That’s something that really gets up my nose,” she said. “The government could start building on Parramatta Road now for affordable and social housing.”
“Why say you’ve got to put more into an area that has one of the highest ratio of people to the square metre, and less open space than nearly anywhere else in Sydney? It doesn’t make sense.”
Referring to the Labor majority on the Inner West Council, she said, “We’ve got a Labor Council that is doing the bidding of a State Labor, and taking on the role of the developers’ friend, and that is not the answer to housing.”
Almost half of the inner west has been labelled heritage significant. Now the NSW Government is forcing local councils to lift their bans on building terraces, townhouses and two-storey blocks. The state premier was also criticised for suggesting that Sydney councils were using heritage preservation listings as a tactic to prevent greater development.
The future of Leichhardt is uncertain and council seems unwilling to act. Suggestions to add relatively low-cost features to beautify Norton Street, such as trees and potted plants, have gone unacknowledged, according to local residents.
Inner West Council did not answer questions from City Hub, but Ms Gamble said it is only another example of council neglecting its suburbs.
“Inner West Council is just the suburbs with bookends – the bookends are Balmain and Marrickville. They’re the areas which the Labor Party in particular spends most of its time promoting.”
