Plan for hundreds of apartments gets go-ahead despite council protest

Hundreds of apartments will be built on a former tunnelling site for the metro rail line in north-west Sydney, despite a council push for the $143 million development to include more commercial space.

The NSW Independent Planning Commission sided with the state government’s planners when it approved the residential project at Epping following objections from the City of Parramatta Council.

The Beecroft Road development includes 19 affordable housing dwellings.Credit: NSW Independent Planning Commission

“Significantly increasing commercial floor space would be inconsistent with current government priorities to deliver more housing at locations close to public transport,” the commission found.

But City of Parramatta councillor Lorraine Wearne criticised the development as “bad planning”.

“They want to turn the site into a dormitory,” she said.

A three-member panel from the commission found an “appropriately conditioned approval” of the development would be in the public interest, according to a decision published in late September.

Beecroft Planning Developments sought permission to construct the mixed-use development comprising 374 apartments and commercial space on Beecroft Road near Epping train station.

The NSW Department of Planning and Environment in August referred the “state significant” development to the commission because the council was opposing the project.

The 10,000 square-metre parcel of vacant land, which is zoned for high-density residential development, sits about 300 metres from Epping train station. It was previously used as a tunnelling site for the Sydney Metro Northwest project, and construction of an adjacent rail operations facility.

In 2020, the state government had approved a concept proposal for a mixed use development spread across five buildings up to 15 storeys.

The vacant site on Beecroft Road is near Epping’s town centre and train station.Credit: NSW Independent Planning Commission

Revised plans later sought approval for changes including an increase in the approved maximum building height by up to 3.83 metres.

Nineteen apartments would be provided as affordable housing for low-income earners.

The City of Parramatta opposed the development, arguing it should include more commercial floor space in line with Epping’s role as a strategic hub, and provide more jobs to support the area’s growing population.

“The updated proposal still erodes the approved outcomes of the development, particularly in relation to building height, setbacks and building separation, as well as solar access to communal open space,” it said in its submission on the proposal.

However, the Planning Department argued the site’s zoning objectives were primarily focused on housing, and the 923 square metres of commercial floor space proposed was appropriate, given the site was separated from the centre of Epping by the rail line. It said increasing the amount of commercial floor space to the council’s desired amount of at least 10,120 square metres would also not be feasible because the town centre had a high office floor space vacancy rate of 24 per cent.

The commission agreed, finding that boosting the amount of commercial floor space on the site would “act as an impediment to the future revitalisation of the [Epping] town centre”.

“The commission finds that the project is consistent with the existing strategic planning framework as it will deliver additional housing with excellent access to public transport connections, employment centres, services and amenity,” the decision said.

Wearne, who represents Epping ward, said locals had been pushing for a road through the large site, more shops and improved pedestrian access to the train station.

“There was always going to be development there, so I was not opposed to development on that site, but the size, the scale, the bulk, and the lack of consideration of issues that were perceived to be important locally is annoying.”

The approval conditions also required the 19 affordable housing dwellings be provided and managed by a community housing provider for 15 years, instead of 10, to which the developer agreed.

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