Plan to revitalise Woodville Rd with new parks, units and public spaces

For decades it was known as the road that was home to John Cootes Furniture but a new proposal plans to revitalise Woodville Rd with shops, public plazas and more than 2000 dwellings.

For decades it was known as the arterial road that was home to John Cootes Furniture but a plan to revitalise Woodville Rd at Merrylands and Guildford will transform it with shops, parks and more than 2160 dwellings.

Cumberland local planning panel will this week vote on whether it supports changes to replace the “disjointed streetscape’’ with a uniform approach across the busy road, which has a mix of established businesses, ageing houses and multistorey apartment blocks.

A Cumberland Council report has labelled the mix a “visually obtrusive infill development”.

Some unit blocks would soar as high as 20 metres and contribute to Cumberland’s housing target of 28,500 extra dwellings between 2016 and 2036.

The planning proposal, called the Woodville Road Corridor, has three development sites - Merrylands East Precinct, the Woodville Road South Precinct and the Woodville Road North Precinct - along the busy strip.

The Merrylands East Precinct, between Derby St and Mountford Ave, is the site of the John Cootes site redevelopment, which includes more than 500 units, a 2000sq m park, a supermarket and has already been rezoned.

Other plans for the site near Granville South Public School would include high density developments soaring to 31 metres. There are also plans to rezone council-owned land from a reserve at 3-7 Mountford Ave and 13-15 Grassmere St, Guildford, to permit low density (R2) homes that are on a minimum 550sq m lot.

The John Cootes Furniture warehouse, which is used as a depot, at 258 Woodville Rd, Merrylands. Picture: Monique Harmer

An artist’s impression of how the John Cootes site could look.

At Woodville Road South Precinct, between Wynyard St and Chiltern Rd, a neighbourhood centre at the Guildford Rd intersection is planned, along with more medium and higher density development.

The Woodville Road North Precinct, between Railway Pde and Merrylands Rd, would allow R4 (high density) up to 18m in this neighbourhood because of its access to public transport if approved.

Cumberland mayor Steve Christou has welcomed the corridor plans.

“I think the current corridor is completely inadequate and I’m very supportive of the measures now being undertaken to bring that corridor up to scratch to help businesses and residents on that site,’’ he said.

Business Western Sydney executive director David Borger also welcomed the plan.

“I think the council’s plan generally is pretty good. Housing along that corridor which has great public transport is smart,’’ he said.

“They need to amalgamate these little sites to get a better outcome. Their plan seems to do that, so that’s a tick.’’

However, he forecast some hiccups with the mix of businesses and homes along Woodville Rd, which is currently “a bit of a hodgepodge of small walk-up flats and houses’’.

“The fundamental problem with the mixed use is if people can’t park there for the businesses, they will probably always be marginal,’’ he said.

“I would add that the other challenge of Woodville Rd is it needs to be a green leafy welcoming corridor. There needs to be a way to set the buildings back and absolutely make sure that large street trees are planted along the corridor.’’

Woodville Rd has always been an arterial road. Picture: Monique Harmer

Despite the support for the corridor transformation, Cr Christou has remained firmly opposed to developing the former Caterpillar site at Crescent St, Holroyd, where up to 3000 people could be crammed into towers up to 28 storeys tall.

He labelled the site, just off Woodville Rd but not part of the corridor plans, as a gross overdevelopment but Business Western Sydney has backed the project.

“The council could achieve all their objectives on the single site — housing diversity, jobs growth supported by transport and local amenity (park located on site and direct connection to Holroyd Sportsground),’’ Mr Borger said.

“The site has excellent access to active transport including existing cycle/pedestrian paths that make the site extremely well connected to local jobs and train stations (Harris Park).”

Once the panel determines the Woodville Road Corridor proposal on Wednesday, it will then go before the council but ultimately, the State Government’s Planning Department will approve or reject it.

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