Save Marrickville has joined a number of other community groups from across the Inner West Council LGA to form the Better Futures Coalition.

The new Coalition has called on the Inner West Council to extend and deepen public consultation over its so-called “Fairer Future” Local Environment Plan (LEP) which aims to add more than 31,000 dwellings to a small number of suburbs in Sydney’s Inner West, while leaving others untouched. The plan will have a very significant impact on the built and natural environment of Marrickville, Ashfield, Dulwich Hill and Leichhardt.

Public submissions are due by July 6 and Council has decided to adopt the plan at its August meeting, with the aim of moving it quickly through a State government approval process.

The ’Better Futures Coalition’ community group has requested a month-long extension to the community consultation process, given the genuine challenge of ensuring informed community engagement in such a short time period. 

The extremely low submission and survey response received so far by Council (under 100 submissions and fewer than 200 surveys out of 85,000 households) is proof that the wider community has not been able to meaningfully engage with the plan and its implications. 

The coalition is made up of a number of (volunteer) groups who have spent weeks struggling with the sheer volume of information  - 1150 pages in total - they are required to digest in order to respond via Council’s community feedback process or report back to their communities.

When engaging (face to face and online) with community members across the LGA on the subject of the new LEP, group members including Save Marrickville reported that most of the residents, business owners and workers they have spoken to had not read Council’s communications around the LEP and remained unaware of the proposed changes and their implications. Some have not received any communication at all, including people living and working in affected streets. 

The Better Futures Coalition is particularly concerned that people with English as a second language, the aged and those with varying cognitive abilities are unable to access clear, specific information about what the proposed LEP will mean for them. A number of community members reported feeling fearful and confused about the plan.

The “Fairer Future Plan” is intended to replace the ‘Transport Oriented Development’ (TOD) plan introduced by the State government in January. We were very surprised to discover that it doubled the number of dwellings and vastly increased the maximum heights put forward in the TOD, with no apparent benefit to the Council's constituents.

Extending the public consultation period will not halt housing development in the Inner West, which already has 4000 apartments in the pipeline.

Save Marrickville is not opposed to reasonable, sustainable and truly affordable development that comes with adequate infrastructure and equitable housing. But this requires careful and consultative planning with the community.

So far Council’s efforts to engage the public have not proved successful. More time, more accessible information and more public engagement are needed.

This is not good planning or process. Due to the sheer size of the increase, this LEP will have the most significant impact on the future of the Inner West than any that has gone before it.  On that ground alone the community needs to be properly consulted.

In addition to concerns about the community consultation process, other issues raised by the Better Futures Coalition include:

• The plan does not meaningfully tackle the housing affordability crisis - it only mandates 2% affordable housing (80% of market rate), and will likely be more expensive than much of the existing older housing stock it aims to replace
• No guaranteed public or social housing
• Over-generous developer bonuses fail to leverage incentives for the public benefit
• Build to rent model won’t guarantee long-term affordability or tenure for renters
• Favours small units, only 20% will be 3 bedroom or above - not family friendly
• Sheer scale of development in targeted suburbs would add 60-70% more dwellings to Marrickville, Dulwich Hill, Ashfield and Leichhardt, with heights of up to 17 storeys
• Almost total absence of new public open green space and no sports fields or playgrounds to support the huge influx of new residents
• Negative environmental impacts - overshadowing of green spaces, loss of solar access, razing of established trees, loss of deep soil planting, waste of embodied carbon and pressure on Sydney’s already overburdened landfill 
• Minimum sustainability requirements will mean dwellings are not future-proofed against heat stress or increasing dangerous weather events
• Impact on local businesses operating out of affordable buildings zoned for demolition (e.g. Marrickville’s world famous shops, restaurants and music venues) 
• Destruction of historic buildings, e.g the ‘Lazybones’ corner of Marrickville town centre
• Lack of traffic and parking assessment - loss of accessible parking for small businesses in favour of large developments with multinational supermarkets, increased pressure on existing street parking
• Spot development in previously low-rise residential streets and removal of built heritage
• Encroachment of high density into residential streets with 8-10 storey buildings abutting 2 storey homes

[CALL TO ACTION] If you agree more time and better communication is needed for affected community members to understand the consequences of the new "Fairer Futures" LEP, please let Council know by including this in your submission or survey response or calling or emailing your local Councillors. Email addresses can be found on the Council website.