Developers urge government not to cave in to ‘CBD NIMBYs’ at Barangaroo

Developers are urging the state government not to give in to “CBD NIMBYs” as debate intensifies over plans for the final piece of Sydney’s Barangaroo foreshore, including a 20-storey residential building that has enraged community groups and heritage advocates.

The business lobby also endorsed revised plans for the central section of Barangaroo, but wants a portion of any new residential development at the precinct reserved as affordable housing for key workers.

The proposed residential tower of about 20 storeys has enraged community groups who say it will block views.

Lucy Turnbull, former head of the Greater Cities Commission and former Sydney lord mayor, backed that call and said the forthcoming metro station was a catalyst for more development in the area than originally planned.

As the Herald reported on Monday, residents’ groups, the National Trust, the City of Sydney and state MP for Sydney Alex Greenwich have objected to the bulk and scale of an amended proposal lodged by Infrastructure NSW on behalf of developer Aqualand.

The revised plan includes a 20-storey residential tower – beyond the height limit approved for the area in 2007 – as well as shops, offices, a harbourside park and public open space.

Business Sydney, formerly the Sydney Business Chamber, supports the changes. Executive director Paul Nicolaou said the city “desperately needs investment” and the project would be a confidence-booster for Sydney after the ravages of COVID-19 lockdowns and working from home.

“There’s always going to be community opposition to any development, but ... the city needs to increase its population,” he said. “More and more workers are working from home [so] we need to have a larger population in the city in order to keep the city alive and thriving.”

The Planning Department is currently collating public submissions on the revised plans for Central Barangaroo.Credit: Brook Mitchell

But Nicolaou also said the residential component of the development should include 5 to 10 per cent affordable housing for key workers such as nurses, teachers and police officers. “There’s no reason they can’t reach a compromise from that perspective,” Nicolaou told the Herald. “We desperately need to have access to frontline workers in the city.”

There is no plan for affordable housing at Central Barangaroo. Aqualand says it is providing public benefits in other forms, such as the harbour park and refit of The Cutaway, and that affordable housing (2.3 per cent of residential gross floor area) is being delivered at Barangaroo South. Project director Rod McCoy said Aqualand's total public benefit contribution at Central Barangaroo exceeded $285 million.

Turnbull said the Barangaroo metro station – not envisaged in 2007 when the original planning controls were settled – presented an opportunity to help redress the state’s housing shortage.

“The state government is making the biggest investment in transport infrastructure in Sydney’s history with the Metro,” she said. “This creates a huge opportunity to connect people right across the city and locate housing close to where the Metro stations are – especially affordable housing, of which there is a huge shortage.”

The Urban Taskforce, which represents developers, told the government Aqualand’s plan was “a logical final component of the Barangaroo vision” and urged Planning Minister Anthony Roberts to approve the amended plans, known as Modification 9.

In a submission obtained by the Herald, Urban Taskforce chief executive Tom Forrest wrote: “It is critical that the government back Infrastructure NSW and not allow a bunch of well-funded CBD NIMBYs [to] strand billions of dollars of investment in public infrastructure through an organised campaign of localised opposition to this modification.”

Forrest said the same people who opposed the Central Park development on the site of the former Carlton United Brewery in Chippendale were “now pulling out every opportunity to stymie the government’s realisation of value here at Barangaroo” and “this must be resisted”.

“Many of the opponents of the scheme were also opposed to the creation of Barangaroo Reserve, the delivery of which has proven to be a masterstroke and the highlight of the entire precinct,” Forrest said.

“Barangaroo is a place that can be enjoyed by all of Sydney, not just those who have the benefit of living in former public housing in Millers Point.”

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