Crowded Redfern to spread its wings

THE number of homes on public land in Redfern and Waterloo will double under plans to radically change the area with the largest concentration of social housing in the inner city.

Proposals just published by the Redfern-Waterloo Authority will lead to many of the three-story apartment blocks dotted across 33 hectares being replaced with blocks four, six and eight storeys high.

And much of the open space that surrounds existing social housing developments will be used for infill development under the plans that will reshape the area over the next 20-25 years.

Residents in the suburbs have just been advised of the plans, set out in a swag of documents available on the internet.

Summaries provided to residents say the plans ''could result in approximately 3500 additional dwellings in the whole Redfern and Waterloo area'', many of which will be private homes built on what is now public land.

The documents say the authority wants to break down the heavy concentration of social housing and create communities that are more mixed, in keeping with the philosophy that guides Housing NSW.

''The aim is to achieve a mix of 60 per cent private and affordable housing dwellings and 40 per cent social housing to encourage a thriving and sustainable community,'' the documents say.

While they do not spell out how this mix will be achieved, it is likely many smaller public housing blocks will be sold to developers who will replace them with new private housing developments with much higher density.

There are 4300 social housing dwellings in the area, or 44 per cent of the total, although the documents say that number will fall to 2800 plus 700 affordable housing dwellings where lower-paid workers have subsided rent.

The authority has promised that social housing tenants who are relocated will be rehoused elsewhere within the City of Sydney.

Many of the low-rise buildings will go, but the high-rise towers will remain.

''As the current economic life of high-rise towers buildings is generally about 30 years or more, it is anticipated that these buildings will be retained for some time,'' it says.

But with many of the apartments in these towers run down, the plan says there is ''real potential'' for them to be renovated so they blend better with more upmarket private housing planned for the area.

Geoff Turnbull of the local community group REDWatch said he supported the thrust of the changes and there was no doubt that higher-density development would improve the area.

But after poring over the documents, he believed the plans were for a much higher density than had been proposed by the City of Sydney.

''The authority has requested to increase density by 35 per cent more than City of Sydney wants. The density over what's there is for an extra 3500 units, which is doubling the density that's already there.''

He said it was difficult to judge the plan because the authority's rules provided for ''predominant height'', which allows an eight-storey building, for example, to be 12 storeys high on 20 per cent of a development site.

''There needs to be some increase in density - we don't have a problem with that - but the issue is what happens to public space and amenity, and we are not convinced 35 per cent above City of Sydney is right.''

Public meetings will be held over the next month while the plans are on display but Mr Turnbull said more time was needed to consider such radical changes.

Makeover ... Kettle Street now, above, and the proposed plans, below.

[REDWatch notes:

1. The 4300 figure referred to in the story is for the entire area covered by the RWA. The area covered by the RWA Plan is a smaller area covering the concentrated public housing which contains approximately 3,500 HNSW properties.

2. Kettle street is currently closed at Elizabeth St but the RWA BEP2 page 74 proposes opening up this closure. The artist impression hence includes a closure recommended for removal in the Plan.]