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. 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 and 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.

Woollahra Municipal Council previously rejected a proposal for a similar development on the site because it didn’t fit in with their existing plans for Edgecliff. That proposal would have reduced the amount of affordable housing, created traffic concerns, and it may have impacted wildlife in the nearby Trumper Park.

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.

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.