Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore accused of going to war with Sydney over development
Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore has been accused of going to war on Sydney by blocking new developments, as some of the city’s key figures speak out to condemn moves to stop the generation of jobs and growth.
NSW
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Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore has been accused of going to war on Sydney by blocking new developments, as some of the city’s key figures speak out to condemn moves to stop the generation of jobs and growth.
Yesterday Ms Moore held a press conference to slam state government plans to redevelop the trouble-plagued Waterloo Housing Estate, saying new proposals would create a housing “ghetto”.
“This is unprecedented scale for Australia. It is Hong Kong density,” she said of the proposed new 6800-home development which includes two parks.
Instead Ms Moore wants to shrink the height of high-rise buildings and cut the number of homes by 1500 to ensure their shadows will not stop grass from growing in parks.
Urban Taskforce chief executive Chris Johnson said: “It appears that Clover Moore has declared war on Sydney.
“She is using micro issues such as overshadowing at four in the afternoon to destabilise viable projects.”
In a council minute, Ms Moore outlined what she calls “the devastating impacts of state planning on the City of Sydney”.
She attacked a proposed office tower at Cockle Bay Wharf because it will block sunlight after 4pm to a square at Town Hall that has been in planning for 30 years but still does not exist.
Planning Minister Anthony Roberts said: “The opposition to the Cockle Bay tower is simply, one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever heard of.
“To suggest that Sydney should be deprived of hundreds of jobs to prevent a park that hasn’t been built from being overshadowed for 15 minutes at 4pm in the afternoon is beyond laughable.”
Ms Moore also took aim at plans for a new luxury Ritz Carlton hotel at The Star in Pyrmont saying the proposal was “a scandalous abuse of the planning system” that would again overshadow public areas.
But The Star Entertainment Group CEO Matt Bekier said: “We are following the correct planning pathway as determined by the Department of Planning.
“The reality here is that we are wanting to build a tower and associated resort facilities, including additional signature restaurants, infinity edge pools overlooking the harbour and a new Sky Terrace, to help drive tourism in Sydney and NSW more broadly.”
In a statement a City of Sydney spokeswoman yesterday said: “Since 2012, the City has assessed approximately 11,000 applications with a construction investment of more than $25 billion. By January, 90 per cent of all DAs had been determined in an average of 56 days for this financial year.”
Originally published as Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore accused of going to war with Sydney over development
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