A NSW Government Planning Proposal seeks to amend the Woollahra LEP 2014 to enable increased density of the site located at 8-10 New McLean Street Edgecliff with approximately 246 dwellings incorporating affordable housing in an 18-storey residential building with basement parking and loading bay. Information in the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure Fact Sheet outlines further information on the proposal to increase the height and floor space ratio controls to accommodate increased residential development.

The site is occupied by two large freestanding residential flat buildings which contain a total of 106 dwellings with dense vegetation and tree canopy cover along the southern boundary. It is zoned R3 Medium Density Residential. It has frontages to New McLean Street and Trumper Park and slopes towards the south, with a high point located along New McLean Street.

Located directly to the south of the Edgecliff Commercial Centre (ECC), the site is less than 50 metres from the Edgecliff Railway station. The site sits within the Paddington Heritage Conservation Area but is not listed as a heritage item.

The planning proposal is based on a reference scheme prepared by the proponent that features the following:

  • An eighteen-storey residential building with basement parking and loading bay.
  • Communal open spaces for residents.
  • 3 basement levels containing up to 281 car parking spaces including 51 visitor spaces.
  • 2.76% of residential gross floor area uplift allocated to affordable housing in perpetuity.
  • A total residential gross floor area of 26,736sqm.

Woollahra Municipal Council previously rejected a proposal for a similar development of 25 storeys on the site because it didn’t fit in with their existing plans for Edgecliff. Woollahra Council does not support the proposal in its current form. WMC Planning Proposal Submission

The public exhibition period for the planning proposal has been extended and will now close on 1 July 2025. The planning proposal was initially scheduled to be on exhibition from 26 May 2025 to 24 June 2025. The Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure (DPHI) is managing the public exhibition process. Any questions should be directed to the Planning Proposal Authority team at the following email address: planningproposalauthority@dphi.nsw.gov.au.

It is possible to make a submission before 5pm on 1 July.

In outline The Paddington Society’s Response includes:

  • The Society supports the provision of additional housing stock, particularly affordable housing. We note that Woollahra Council’s Edgecliff Commercial Centre Strategy (ECC) proposes uplift on nine sites, including affordable housing, community infrastructure and public domain benefits. With other developments already proposed, approved and/or underway in the LGA, Council is already well advanced towards meeting and exceeding the State Government’s dwelling targets.
  •  The subject site at 8-10 New McLean Street, is one of three declared SSD in close proximity to Edgecliff Station, all situated at the main gateway to the Eastern Suburbs. This site is directly opposite the Edgecliff Centre at 203-233 New South Head Road. A little to the east is 136-148 New South Head Road (1 Darling Point Road). The latter two sites propose uplift to 37 and 17 storeys respectively, well in excess of the ECC 26 and 12 storeys endorsed by WMC.
  •  The cumulative impacts of these proposals, all proposing uplift well in excess of that endorsed for the ECC, will have extensive detrimental impacts on the ECC, adjacent Heritage Conservation Areas of Paddington, Darling Point and Woollahra, in addition to Double Bay and Rose Bay further to the east, where proposals for significant uplift on several sites have already been lodged under the Low & Mid-Rise Housing Policy.

Negative cumulative impacts of the Planning Proposal on this precinct and the LGA include:

  • Overdevelopment in this context at the main gateway to the eastern suburbs
  • Excessive bulk and scale, overshadowing and overwhelming adjacent and surrounding dense low rise precincts
  • Excavation impacts on surrounding ageing dwellings and services
  • No guarantee of provision of affordable housing in perpetuity, despite such claims
  • No guarantee of provision of additional public facilities or infrastructure
  • Massive traffic, congestion & flow-on car parking impacts on surrounding precincts and those further afield in the LGA
  • There is no coordinated traffic study & report including other SSD sites
  • The Planning Proposal is not in the public interest in this context
  • It should be re-assessed in light of the above and Paddington Society’s more detailed submission