Westmead South draft masterplan revealed, additional 6000 homes planned

Parramatta’s next-door neighbour will start to mirror it over the next decade with a plan for 6000 additional homes. See the plans to send Westmead sky-high.

The future metro station at Westmead will generate development on the southern side of the suburb.

Westmead will be transformed into “an inner city suburb of Parramatta” over the next 10 years under a masterplan to add parks and over 6000 homes in towers alongside the train station and future metro line. But some fear it will make the suburb uninviting.

The masterplan is bordered by Alexandra Ave, Bridge Rd, the Great Western Highway and Good St/Mays Hill precinct and proposes apartment blocks ranging from eight to 25 storeys, with the tallest developments to sit closest to the train stations.

The upzoning will signal zoning changes to high density for a large swath of the suburb where there is detached houses and double and three-level unit blocks built in the 1980s.

Under the plan, Hawkesbury Rd will transform into a high street. Cumberland Council papers outline it to become “an inviting and bustling main street that is pedestrian and cyclist friendly, promoting community life and function’’.

The suburb will also be promoted as a key area in the Central River City of Parramatta.

An aerial view of Westmead South and the Parramatta skyline.

“Westmead South will focus on becoming a future inner-city suburb of Parramatta CBD being accessible, liveable and connected.’’

There will be 47,000 sqm of non-residential space that has the potential to generate retail, commercial and employment.

A network of public open spaces, activity hubs between The Oakes Centre and the metro station and a multipurpose community facility is in the pipeline.

More affordable housing is proposed for the next two years, a park along Alexandra Ave in the next seven years and a commuter carpark close to the metro in the next three to seven years.

A designated cycle path along Amos St linking the future cycle path along Hawkesbury Rd to the existing ones in Mays Hill precinct and Parramatta Park is also proposed.

The Oakes Centre shops at Westmead.

Drawing of the future Oakes Centre plaza as part of the Westmead South masterplan.

Existing features such as the Oakes Centre shops plaza, and MJ Bennett Reserve, Austral Avenue Reserve and Sydney Smith Park will get upgrades to support the masterplan.

Sydney Trains plans to start construction on the over-railway span at Bridge Rd at Westmead this year when it will increase to three lanes – one northbound and two southbound.

Not everyone has welcomed the plans. Community feedback raised concerns over high rise in front of Westmead Public School and the metro for fear it will become highly congested.

Others did not welcome it because it did not support “house-based family living in Westmead South” while others “felt the proposal would create an uninviting neighbourhood’’.

A mock up of the Alexandra Avenue Park.

The council papers also recommend a new heritage conservation area to be established bound by Toohey Ave, Gowrie Cres, MJ Bennett Reserve, the south side of Nolan Cres, Hawkesbury Rd and Austral Ave and St Barnabas Anglican Church.

Westmead’s population is 16,555 and 73.9 per cent of residents were born overseas.

Westmead South is one of seven sub-precincts which the state government identified under its Westmead Place Strategy, which also includes the health district on the opposite side of the station and under Parramatta Council.

While the Council has raised concerns over the state government’s controversial plan to upzone Lidcombe and Berala as part of its transport-oriented program, it has suggested Westmead would be a more appropriate neighbourhood to be upzoned into six storeys.

In 2016, the suburb comprised 41.2 per cent freestanding houses, 32.1 per cent medium-density dwelling and 25.5 per cent high density. The number of medium and high density is 57.6 per cent – higher than the Cumberland average of 43 per cent.

Westmead is expected to host 50,000 jobs by 2036.

The Westmead South masterplan is due to be discussed at the Cumberland Local Planning Panel meeting next week.

If it is endorsed it will proceed to the Planning Department.