By Megan Gorrey
A group of inner Sydney residents, architects and the owners of a luxury hotel are urging the NSW Ombudsman to intervene in plans to redevelop the final piece of the Barangaroo foreshore, accusing the state government of misleading the public to shore up support for the $2 billion-plus proposal.
The formal complaint argues the government’s development arm, Infrastructure NSW, provided “deceptive” information in the most recent plans to develop the Central Barangaroo precinct.
The beleaguered Central Barangaroo project is the final stage of the massive foreshore renewal project.Credit: NSW government
“Public confidence in the government is being seriously eroded because of this development application,” the complaint to the public authorities’ watchdog said.
Infrastructure NSW denies it acted improperly or misled the public. The agency lodged the plans, known as “Mod 9”, on behalf of developer Aqualand, seeking approval to construct 143 apartments, a hotel, shops, and offices in seven buildings up to 10 storeys above the soon-to-open metro station.
Central Barangaroo is designed to connect the naturalistic headland park to the commercial district, and will sit above one of the stations for the state government’s future $21.6 billion metro rail line.
The station is due to open in August; Central Barangaroo most likely won’t be finished until 2029.
The building envelopes proposed for Central Barangaroo after years of legal battles and planning disagreements. Credit: Millers Point Community Residents Action Group
It’s the latest chapter in the long-running saga to redevelop the former industrial wharves west of the CBD, a project that has been mired in legal disputes and disagreements over building heights.
Aqualand, which is delivering the project on behalf of INSW, was forced to redraw plans for the site after backlash prompted the former Coalition government to dump a proposed 20-storey tower.
But the rehashed plans triggered objections from locals, who argued they misrepresented the proposed building envelopes and underplayed the extent to which the development would obscure prized views of the harbour, Observatory Hill, and heritage streets in Millers Point.
The complaint to the Ombudsman has been lodged by owners in the Highgate apartments, the Millers Point Community Resident Action Group, Hill Thalis Architecture and Urban Projects, the Langham hotel, and Emeritus Professor James Weirick, who is former director of the University of NSW’s graduate program in urban development and design.
The revised designs for Central Barangaroo include fewer offices and more apartments.Credit: NSW government
“We believe Infrastructure NSW has acted improperly in their role with this project by providing misleading and deceptive information to interested parties, as well as the public, with a view to enhancing planning support for the latest Barangaroo development proposal,” the group said.
The complaint said the residents’ group, The Langham and owners in the Highgate building had been “especially critical of distortions in photographic imaging” used to support the development application, and described the “misrepresentations of development scale and related public and private view impacts as ‘unconscionable’ ”.
The complaint argued Mod 9 should be a new development application subject to a full assessment.
Millers Point resident Judy Hyde said development applications “should not be based on anything other than fact and truth”.
“The government – Infrastructure NSW – has gone into this misrepresenting the facts in the name of the developer, instead of representing the interests of the public.”
Infrastructure NSW denied improper behaviour and said it and Aqualand had “followed the steps required of the planning process”, which included putting the proposal and revisions on exhibition.
“Infrastructure NSW will work collaboratively with the NSW Ombudsman, should it decide to review the claims made.”
The NSW Ombudsman’s office said it did not comment on individual complaints.
Aqualand did not respond to requests for comment. The company has previously said input from the government on the revised plans provided a greater focus on the public dividend through “improved view sharing, more generous public spaces, and greater connectivity through the precinct”.
The Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure is considering submissions on the plans before making a recommendation to Planning Minister Paul Scully, who will decide on the proposal.
Millers Point Community Resident Action Group member Bernard Kelly said: “We just hope the minister rejects [the proposal], or refers it to the Independent Planning Commission, so the application gets the full light of day.”
The Langham hotel on Kent Street is opposing the development because it would block its harbour views. The hotel’s general manager Shane Jolly hoped the complaint to the watchdog would “help to obtain a fair outcome, particularly given the decision lies solely with the planning minister”.
The City of Sydney council, independent Sydney MP Alex Greenwich, the Heritage Council of NSW, and the National Trust’s NSW branch have also objected to the most recent plans for the precinct.
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correction
An earlier version of this article incorrectly referred to Emeritus Professor James Weirick as a professor of architecture at the University of NSW.