click on this link to get a pdf of our submission aid for Social Housing at Cowper/Elger Sts Glebe.
Urgent Urgent send off to the council by Jan 15 2016
Here is the text of our emergency alert
Glebe Grapevine Alert
ELGER STREET HIGH RISE
The NSW Government has lodged a development application for a new high rise public housing development in Elger and Bay Streets to coincide with the holiday break.
Over 110 mostly one bedroom units will tower up to 9 storeys against 19th Century dwellings along the rear of Queen Street, Glebe with another 48 in Elger Street, showing little concern for existing residents and future tenants.
The apartments will be little more than cells for the many aged and disabled residents expected to live there.
There will be no parking for residents, their carers, service providers or visitors. The City of Sydney’s new “scratchies” visitor parking permits will further isolate residents.
Most of the bedrooms in this development will have no direct light. Those with windows will look south into the flats and backyards of houses along Queen Street. Most units will have no sunlight, even in their living areas.
Units fronting Bay Street will be subject to noise levels in their rooms equal to a vacuum cleaner operating, even with windows closed. These noise levels are known to cause serious ill health and breach the NSW State Environmental Planning Policy for residential development adjoining busy roads.
Traffic will be allowed to flow from Bay Street into the development and then on to the rest of the Glebe Estate, nullifying the traffic plan devised for the Broadway development and endangering young and older residents particularly.
The proportion of two bedroom to one bedroom units is very small. The lack of family units means that families with school aged children that used to live on this site will be absent.
The bathrooms are exceptionally small and are not suited for the elderly, especially those who may need Community Care help to shower.
The kitchens are really kitchenettes and it is not clear how much storage space will be accessible to elderly residents. The lack of any living space that is screened from the kitchen area is also a problem.
There do not appear to be any laundries or any open drying areas around the buildings. There is no provision for each unit to have their own washing machine – the bathrooms and kitchens are too small. Communal laundries are a common cause of conflict among residents.
The total lack of car spaces is scandalous. There needs to be far more space for visitors parking – health and community care workers need immediate access. There should be provision for underground parking, Council would not approve any other development of this size without this provision.
The State government and the City of Sydney (which has promoted this development from the start) have demonstrated once again their contempt for the existing and future residents.
Perfectly sound and suitable public housing was demolished to be replaced by cramped sunless boxes. There is very little open space.
And that’s just the start. Private developers will add many more high rise units on the land sold off. It’s just another example of dollars before people.
CASH GRAB
The sale will do nothing to address the housing shortage in Sydney. The NSW Government has privatised over 50 per cent of the Cowper/Elger Street site by selling to a Singaporean developer, Roxy Pacific.
Most units are expected to be sold to overseas investors and are likely to lead to an increase in short-term leasing.
This certainly won’t create a sense of community within the area.
All of the site was formerly occupied by public housing.
The new public housing is to be crammed into about one quarter of the site (see above).
SEND A PROTEST
If you feel as we do about this new blot on the Glebe landscape, sign the objection below and post it to the City of Sydney, GPO Box 1591, Sydney 2001.
Your objection should be lodged by 15 January. If you are late, lodge it anyway. Please feel free to add you own comments.
I/We, the undersigned, object to the new development (D/2015/1794) at Elger Street, Glebe. We agree with the view attached to this objection (see above) and would like to add:
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