There were 138 submissions objecting to the proposed development on the corner of Ella St and Herbert St. NSW Planning has now issued a Request for Information (RFI) asking the proponent to respond to queries about aspects of the design. Notably, however, the RFI states explicitly that “The Department may consider additional height above 110m that maximises tower separation, solar access to neighbouring properties and most importantly, solar access to Talus Reserve.” This height is dramatically out of scale with the urban context of the site, and fails to comply with the TOD Precinct design principle that “Large developments are located between the stations and transition in height, bulk and scale from the Pacific Highway to the surrounding neighbourhood“. NPA supports the provision of additional housing in the Willoughby LGA, but we believe that good planning principles have to be respected in the process.
I’m deeply concerned that the Department is now openly considering height above 110m for this site.
A tower of this density is visually out of step with everything around it. The corner of Ella and Herbert St sits right at the edge of low-scale, established streets, not in the middle of a high-rise cluster. Dropping a building of this bulk here ignores the TOD Precinct’s own principle that height and scale should step down from the Pacific Highway into the surrounding neighbourhood. Instead of a transition, we’d get an abrupt wall.
The overshadowing is my biggest concern. A tower this tall will cast a long shadow across the Naremburn heritage conservation area, Talus Reserve and Naremburn Park. These are some of the few green, open spaces locals rely on, and the heritage streetscape is what gives the suburb its character. It’s hard to see how going taller improves solar access to Talus Reserve when the real problem is the scale of the building itself. Reducing height and bulk would do far more for sunlight than rearranging an even bigger tower.
Like the NPA, I support more housing in Willoughby, but it has to follow good planning principles. I’d urge the Department to reject any increase above 110m and require a design that genuinely respects the scale of the surrounding area and protects sunlight to our parks and heritage streets.