Work to begin on Peninsula Park at Wentworth Point

After more than a decade of promises, one of Australia’s most dense suburbs is finally going to get some green lungs for its 14,500 residents. But some say the promise is ‘misleading’.

Wentworth Point will finally receive a park that residents, politicians and families have lobbied for over the past decade.

The state government has announced it will create a four-hectare peninsula park in the suburb, crammed with multistorey apartment blocks, in mid-2026.

But part of the Peninsula Park will be shared with Wentworth Point High School and only open on weekends, and before and after school – an arrangement residents have slammed.

“It’s limited,’’ Wentworth Point mum and advocate Heba Aly said.

“Especially in winter when everything is closed at five o’clock – how do you share.’’

A waterfront park at Wentworth Point has been promised since 2013.

The park is 3.2 hectares and the adjacent shared playing fields – which are 0.8 hectares – will have limited operating hours for the public because students will need it.

“A school oval is not a public park,’’ Wentworth Point Mark Green said.

“School ovals are available for community use all over NSW but none of them are called public parks.

“Allowing an hour’s use before it gets dark in winter is just an obvious attempt to mislead the Wentworth Point community.’’

Education Minister Prue Car, Wentworth Point High School principal Melissa Johnston and Parramatta state Labor MP Donna Davis inspect the school under construction.

A park was first promised by the then Liberal government in 2013 but has been hit with multiple hurdles.

Landcom – a government-owned property development organisation – was supposed to deliver the peninsula park on Transport for NSW-owned land – by 2016.

However, when plans for Sydney Olympic Park High were relocated to Wentworth Point it meant Landcom’s towers would be built on the parcel of land where the park was earmarked.

Mr Green said he supported Parramatta Council’s stance to deliver a full park.

The council must still approve the shared space between the school and the community.

On Tuesday, Planning Minister Paul Scully and Western Sydney Minister Prue Car said shovels would start digging to create a park “in coming months”.

The ministers and Parramatta state Labor MP Donna Davis said approval to modify the existing development application had been granted, enabling major works to start.

“When work progresses on the peninsula park later this year, it will unlock a previously inaccessible area for the local community that will be enjoyed for many years to come,’’ she said.

“It will be the final piece of the puzzle that turns the area into the vibrant community hub it deserves to become.”

School to consider year 8 cohort

The state government may allow year 8 students to study at Wentworth Point High School when it opens in 2025.

The Burroway Rd school, which is under construction and on track to open on the first day of term one, has only accepted year 7 enrolments for the first year and refused a year 8 intake.

However, the Education Department this week said it would open expressions of interest for students who would start year 8 next year.

Heba Aly in her family apartment in October. It is across the road from the under-construction Wentworth Point High School.

Melissa Johnson, who has been appointed the school’s principal, said gauging the public feedback would help determine the level of interest in opening year 8 enrolments for 2025.

“Opening a year 8 cohort is dependent on enough enrolment interest to ensure a full curriculum offering for students,’’ she said.

Mrs Aly has lobbied for the year 8 intake. If it is rejected, it means her son, who is in year 7, will have to continue the hour-long commute to Concord High School despite living across the road from Wentworth Point High School.

The school will eventually educate 1500 students, house 78 classrooms, outdoor spaces with landscaped recreation areas, canteen facilities and performing arts spaces.