‘Completely transform skyline’: Parramatta plan approved after nine years

The state government has signed off on plans to dramatically transform western Sydney’s skyline, enabling 70-storey towers to be built across an expanded Parramatta central business district.

It has taken nine years for the Parramatta CBD Planning Proposal to come to fruition, though Lord Mayor Donna Davis indicated there may be further debate over the government’s tweaks to reduce building heights and floor space ratios and exclude North Parramatta from the plan.

Parramatta City Council’s original concept design for the CBD, which will need to be revised following state government approval.

“The future of our CBD hinges on getting these plans right, so we won’t rest until our vision for the city is realised,” Davis said.

The ambitious 40-year vision by Parramatta City Council – now approved by the state government – expands the CBD’s boundaries and allows skyscrapers of up to 69 storeys for mixed-use residential buildings and 52 storeys for commercial offices. The heights are lower than the council’s original proposal for residential towers of 75 storeys and commercial offices of 60 storeys.

Planning Minister Anthony Roberts said the plan would create 11,000 new homes and 16,000 new jobs in Parramatta’s CBD, while associated work along Parramatta Road would create a further 27,000 new homes and 50,000 jobs on that corridor over the next 20 years.

“Parramatta is one of the fastest-growing local government areas in western Sydney, and this proposal will make it an even better place to live and work,” Roberts said.

Construction in Parramatta’s growing CBD, which is expected to gain 11,000 new homes and 16,000 jobs.Credit: Rhett Wyman

The revised planning controls expand the CBD’s commercial core, increase maximum heights and floor space ratios, introduce new flood mitigation rules for properties near the river and require commercial premises to have end-of-trip facilities to encourage cycling, among other changes.

Roberts said traffic studies that had now been completed would allow surrounding councils to unlock “hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars’ of investment” along Parramatta Road.

Davis, the Labor lord mayor, said the approved plan still more than quadrupled the area where the tallest towers could be built, which would allow the council to “completely transform the city skyline”.

Parramatta CBD would gain more than 1.5 million square metres of new commercial floor space, Davis said, helping position it as a genuine rival to Sydney’s main central business district 24 kilometres to the east.

The state government decided to maintain current planning controls near Church Street, the main spine through Parramatta’s CBD, due to heritage and urban design concerns. Building heights were also reduced on various CBD blocks to reduce overshadowing.

The government also excluded a parcel of land on the south side of the Parramatta River between the water and Phillip Street due to concerns about heritage, open space, solar access and amenity.

The changes mean the council’s original concept designs – included in this article as a guide – will likely need to be revised.

A NSW Planning Department spokeswoman said a 10:1 floor space ratio generally provided better balance between development objectives and public amenity, overshadowing and heritage.

She said the excluded areas in North Parramatta and along the foreshore had significant historic value and amenity. The department would work with council and stakeholders on the next steps.

Executive director of Business Western Sydney David Borger said it was good to have certainty after nine years of debate. But he called on the government to set planning controls for North Parramatta urgently, with the light rail due to open next year.

“Deferring North Parramatta is fine as long as we’ve got a time frame for resolving that,” he said. “Parramatta has outgrown its clothes, it’s bursting at the seams. It’s time to think about extending the CBD boundaries.”

Davis warned that without sufficient financial contributions from developers, the council could not fund the infrastructure required to keep pace with the CBD’s growth, such as lighting, streetscapes and quality public spaces. She called on the government to adopt the council’s CBD Infrastructure Contributions Plan.

“[They] go hand-in-hand,” she said. “To reach the state government’s housing and jobs targets we must have that contributions plan adopted and endorsed by the minister.”

Urbis director Murray Donaldson, whose company worked with Parramatta Council on parts of the original plan, was critical of the government’s changes, asserting they would undermine investment.

“They’ve spent the last eight years working on a plan … and now at the 11th hour they’ve decided not to agree with some of the fundamental controls the council wanted,” he said. “There won’t be the level of economic development, the level of job creation ... to support Parramatta as Sydney’s second CBD.”

The Property Council welcomed the new planning controls, especially the bonus floor space for buildings which are better designed and more sustainable.

Western Sydney regional director Ross Groves said: “The new incentives recognise higher quality buildings come at a significant cost to industry.”

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