Meriton’s third rezoning attempt for resurrected Little Bay development

By SASHA FOOT

The Department of Planning will require that experts for Randwick Council sign a confidentiality order to prohibit sharing information on Meriton’s preliminary plans for Little Bay Cove. 

In a statement, the NSW Government said that council staff with expert knowledge of a proposed development site could access project information by signing a “conflict of interest and confidentiality deed”. 

Randwick Mayor Dylan Parker, said the confidentiality agreement is “keeping communities in the dark and gagging public servants”. 

The department said they consulted Icac to avoid any potential corruption risks. 

Meriton’s renewed application for Little Bay Cove follows the development of a new state government planning scheme, the Rezoning Pathways program, which allows developers to fast-track the rezoning of a site. Submissions must have a minimum of 1000+ units to be eligible. 

The proposal will mark Meriton’s third attempt to rezone the site: Randwick Council previously rejected a 22-story, 1,900-dwelling development in 2020, while an ​​independent Sydney Eastern City Planning Panel found it unfit in 2021. The panel concluded that the bulk, scale and density were unsuitable for the area. 

Parker says providing Meriton with a third opportunity to change the master plan is “simply outrageous”. 

No progress on development since land purchase in 2017

The award-winning master plan – which came with Meriton’s purchase of the site in 2017 – includes 224 medium-density homes. The site currently stands undeveloped since its purchase. 

In December last year, the Minister for Planning Anthony Roberts, said the rezoning program was intent on “accelerating the rezoning of key housing areas” to help meet a state government housing target of 70,000 new dwellings. 

Additional material later clarified that the assessment of new submissions would be possible for those previously rejected.  

The department says that consultation with the relevant council and community members would remain in the pre-approval stage. 

The program allows the minister for planning or an authorised representative for the department to approve the proposal. 

Parker says the NSW Government should urge Meriton to “get on with the job of building to the existing approval” rather than satisfying their “high-rise fantasies”. 

A spokesman for Save Little Bay, Olde Lorenzen, stated in a letter submitted to the Planning Minister, Anthony Roberts, that the group maintained their full support and encouragement of the original master plan. 

The community group recognised that a new proposal would not befit the eligibility criteria of the pathways program, given it had already been rezoned and could not be considered a new site for redevelopment.