Planning
Having your cake and eating it too
Posted on 28th March 2023
Is it possible to build new social housing to fit in with a heritage conservation area? In this article Ian Stephenson, President of the Glebe Society, argues that the plan for the demolition of 82 Wentworth Park Rd is a case of not managing public assets in an intelligent manner.
Glebe Society submissions on development applications
Posted on 10th June 2022
Information about recent Glebe Society submissions on Development Applications in Glebe and Forest Lodge.
Demonstration against demolition of public housing in Wentworth Park Rd
Posted on 2nd October 2022
On 17 September, Hands Off Glebe held a demonstration to protest against the demolition of 17 public housing units at 82 Wentworth Park Rd by the NSW Land and Housing Corporation. Speakers called for existing public housing estates to be upgraded and repaired and for the social and urban fabric of Glebe to be respected, and for the NSW Government to stop ‘cannibalising’ public housing.
Switch off the lights, a step in the right direction
Posted on 6th October 2022
The recent decision by the Independent Planning Commission regarding the advertising on the Glebe Island Silos, to have the lighting switched off at 11 pm, is a welcome improvement.
Planning Subcommittee 2022 Annual Report
Posted on 11th September 2022
The Society has been working to nurture Glebe’s special magic for over fifty years. Active engagement with the planning process is an important part of this. The Planning Subcommittee has been very busy in this area over the last year. Our work has included making submissions on development applications, participating in meetings with the City of Sydney and the NSW Land and Housing Corporation, Infrastructure NSW and making detailed submissions on State Significant Developments.
Modified Blackwattle Bay Plan still not good enough
Posted on 12th September 2022
The Blackwattle Bay Plan has been revised after more than 2,000 objections to the first plan were lodged. While there are some improvements, the site will still be massively overdeveloped.
The raison d’être of the Glebe Society
Posted on 9th October 2022
Reflections written in 2010 (with some factual updates since) on the social and economic conditions in Glebe in the 1960s and the factors that saw the birth of the Glebe Society. In the intervening 50 years, the changing demographics of Glebe have also played a role, arguably both positive and negative. By long term Glebe Society member and former Planning Convenor, Neil Macindoe.
Early photographs wanted
Posted on 12th June 2022
Do you have any old photographs of 39 Lodge St showing its original verandah?
Glebe Society submissions on development applications
Posted on 12th June 2022
Information about recent Glebe Society submissions on Development Applications in Glebe and Forest Lodge.
Going, Going, Gone
Posted on 6th June 2022
During the last two weeks, 17-31 Cowper St, Glebe has been demolished. Its delightful courtyard and fountain are gone forever. A backward step for conservation, residential amenity and the environment.
The threats to Glebe’s urban and social fabric continue
Posted on 8th June 2022
The NSW Land and Housing Corporation have advised that they are investigating the opportunity to renew (ie demolish) 82 Wentworth Park Road in order to ‘understand its potential to deliver more social housing on the site’. Like 17-31 Cowper St, 82 Wentworth Park Rd was designed in the late 1980s by the NSW Housing Commission. It is a fine building which respects the character and topography of Glebe while providing great amenity for residents. Moreover, it is in a heritage conservation area.
Pedestrian safety still at risk at new Sydney Fish Market site
Posted on 7th March 2022
Transport for NSW officials have responded to urgent concerns over pedestrian safety along Bridge Rd, next to the construction site of the New Sydney Fish Market. Transport for NSW plans to improve signage ‘within a few weeks’, and that they were currently undertaking a pedestrian safety review, which they aim to implement ‘sooner rather than later’. The results of the review will not be publicly available.
From the President – March 2022
Posted on 7th March 2022
The Glebe Society has been incredibly busy over summer. Catch up with what we’ve been doing by reading the President’s Report.
Report on a Glebe Society Guided Walk: ‘The Good the Bad and the Ugly …’
Posted on 7th March 2022
The Glebe Society’s 2022 program of Guided Walks kicked off on 6 February with a walk led by our President, Ian Stephenson. This walk, titled The Good the Bad and the Ugly: a hundred years of infill housing in Glebe took us on a stroll through the Lyndhurst, St Phillips and Bishopthorpe Estates.
Re-submitted DA for Bidura still unacceptable
Posted on 4th March 2022
The Society has lodged a follow-up submission in relation to the Bidura development application (DA) which proposes a large scale apartment complex behind the heritage-listed building, replacing the concrete Metropolitan Remand Centre/Childrens Court built in the early 1980s. This follows a period of consultation between the City of Sydney and the developers, Visionland, and amendments to their original proposal. The Society believes that aspects of the proposed development will be alien to the architectural character of Glebe and should not be approved.
