‘Stupid idea’: A road that will split a property in half risks forcing residents out

An aged care home for lower-income Sydneysiders could be forced out of Rhodes because the government plans to slice the property in two as part of a major redevelopment of the suburb.

Operators of the not-for-profit Concord Community Village say they will lose out under the state government’s draft plans for Rhodes East while Billbergia – the precinct’s largest property owner – plans to build apartments as high as 25 storeys on some of its nearby properties.

RFBI chief executive Frank Price, left and Concord Community Village board members Jenny Nicholls, Alan Wright and Judy Love.Credit: Rhett Wyman

The predicament for the aged-care home in the inner-west suburb comes after other small property owners raised concerns that they were more disadvantaged by the plans for Rhodes East than Billbergia, one of Sydney’s largest developers of waterfront apartments.

Operated by the Royal Freemasons’ Benevolent Institution (RFBI), the 63-bed aged-care home on Cavell Avenue opened about 23 years ago and is in need of a major upgrade.

RFBI chief executive Frank Price said the plans to bisect the property with a road connecting Cavell Avenue to Blaxland Road made an upgrade unviable, forcing a relocation of the home.

“They are making both sides of our property unusable. What are we going to do – cross the road as we are providing care?” he asked. “We are basically backed into a corner. Our only option is to move away.”

While he had no qualms about developers turning a profit, Mr Price said landowners should be treated equally and the plans to reshape the suburb on the banks of the Parramatta River should not come at the expense of aged-care providers and charities.

“We are providing a social good for the community but the benefits are going to an organisation whose prime objective is profit driven,” he said of Billbergia.

About six hectares – or 75 per cent – of the developable land in the precinct is owned or under option by Billbergia.

But Billbergia managing director John Kinsella said other landowners would gain greater density and building heights under the Planning Department’s draft than it would in Rhodes East, citing the prospect of towers of 18 to 37 storeys beside the suburb’s train station.

The rest home in Rhodes East is at risk of being carved in two under draft plans to reshape the area.Credit: Rhett Wyman

“Furthermore, their plan shows three proposed new streets, all of which run through Billbergia land. Only one runs through another landowner’s,” he said.

A spokesperson for NSW Planning said a decision was yet to be made on the final strategy for Rhodes, and the department was reviewing feedback on the draft, including from RFBI.

Former Concord mayor Alan Wright, who is deputy chair of the aged-care home’s board, said he could not understand why state government planners had decided to draw a road on a map that would have the effect of slicing the rest home’s property in half.

“It took us five years to find a suitable site [for the rest home in the 1990s] and now they want to put a road through it – it’s a stupid idea,” he said.

An artist’s impression of proposed new residential tower blocks at Rhodes.Credit: NSW government

In early 2018, RFBI agreed in principle with Ecove – the developer behind the cracked Opal Tower at Olympic Park – for the rest home to be relocated to a tower planned near the Rhodes train station. Ecove would seek extra floor space in return for providing space for social good.

Those plans for the aged-care facility to shift were scuttled later in 2018 by a revised draft precinct plan for Rhodes East, which made it unviable because it proposed to rezone the land on which the tower was planned as commercial and not mixed use.

Mr Price said RFBI was the only aged-care provider in the area, and its pricing was “significantly lower” than other operators because those it catered for had lower financial means.

“We are basically catering for the battlers. There is a huge demand for the service because there are so few beds available in the local area,” he said.

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