Thousands of homes proposed in transformation of Fairfield City suburbs
As many as 24,500 homes could be built in Cecil Park and Horsley Park, transforming the farming precincts into bustling urban communities.
Thousands of homes could be built in Cecil Park and Horsley Park, transforming the parkland precincts into bustling urban communities that, in one possibility, connect Parramatta to the Badgerys Creek Aerotropolis via a new train station.
The plans to develop the areas – into mostly villas, terraces, townhouses, duplexes, studios and apartment buildings – are years away from being realised, and come after the suburbs were recognised as being the best options for urbanisation by a commission reporting to the NSW Government.
Three different blueprints have been proposed in a second draft plan. In summary, they detail an estimated 12,248 homes to be built on the low end, to as many as 24,482 homes in the most developed of cases – in areas that the last census found has a population of just 2600.
Cecil Park and Horsley Park are considered farming and parkland precincts.
They were identified as ideal suburbs to be transformed into bustling cities because of their proximity to the new airport being developed in Badgerys Creek, the promise of employment that could nourish their local economies, and because they run along the M7 motorway and the proposed M12.
The blueprints propose either medium or high density development, primarily due to a number of constraints – from the noise pollution of the nearby airport to some land just not being suitable for development.
All three options, however, propose the same main arterial road running through both suburbs, propose designating most of Horsley Park as an area of employment and Cecil Park as a residential precinct with a retail town centre.
Option A – the most conservative of the three options, yielding from 12,272 to 17,050 homes – proposes 65 per cent of its development be “multi dwelling”; that is villas, terraces, townhouses, duplexes, studios and apartment buildings. It is described as promoting agribusiness, retaining market gardens and the area’s rural character by not using a large part of Horsley Park for commercial work.
This is how Option B differs, as it replaces the estate homes and agribusiness in Option A with commercial workplaces. It is estimated to yield from 12,272 to 16,715 homes, with 65 per cent classed as multi-dwellings.
Option C is the most developed of the three, adding large apartment buildings around the Cecil Park town centre and proposing a new railway station between Parramatta and the Aerotropolis. Estimates suggest it would add 15,743 to 24,482 homes – 30 to 39 per cent respectively would come from “high-density” apartments – contributing to 78 per cent of the developments being classed as multi-dwelling.
Currently the plans are in a stage of infancy. Fairfield City Council is now exhibiting them, with the feedback informing a proposal on how the areas are to be rezoned. By the first half of 2019, a report will be referred to Council on both the results of public exhibition and the preferred city blueprint.
Members of the public can “have their say” on how Cecil Park and Horsley Park are developed by sending an email to mail@fairfieldcity.nsw.gov.au. Be sure to quote the reference number 14/00489 and to send the emails before submissions close on February 8.
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