Redfern North Eveleigh Strategic Vision on Exhibition until 23 April 2021

Redfern North Eveleigh Strategic Vision on Exhibition until 26 March

A quick overview of the Vision

Some initial observations and concerns on Strategic Vision

Connectivity

Aboriginal Affordable Housing

Responding to what has gone before

Make your submission

Please note – this email contains hyperlinks. This means that if you see a blue underlined word or phrase that you can click on it and go directly to a document or to get more information.

Redfern North Eveleigh Strategic Vision on Exhibition until 26 March

Transport for NSW (TfNSW) has released its Strategic Vision (PDF, 12.05 MB) to guide the renewal and redevelopment of the Redfern North Eveleigh Precinct. Feedback is requested up until 26 March 2021 and more information can be found on Redfern North Eveleigh Precinct Renewal webpage. You can speak to the project team on 1800 684 490 or email projects@transport.nsw.gov.au.

A livestream information session will be held at: 6pm-7.30pm Thursday 18 March and will be uploaded to the TfNSW project page after the presentation. At the information session, you can hear more about the Strategic Vision and speak with the project team.

Please spread the word to your friends and neighbours about this exhibition.

A quick overview of the Vision

The area covered by the Vision document covers an area from Redfern Station to Pines Estate Newtown; bordered by the railway line to the South, Iverys Lane to the west and Little Eveleigh and Wilson Streets to the north.

The Strategic Vision breaks the site into three precincts with the following character statements:

• The Clothing Store Sub-Precinct (towards Macdonaldtown station): will have a residential character that is integrated with community and commercial uses to create a vibrant inner?? what???
• Carriageworks Sub-Precinct (in the middle): will continue to be the creative and cultural heart of the Precinct and will provide new community and creative spaces. This Sub-Precinct will focus on delivering community spaces and effective public domain, while integrating new opportunities for local businesses.
• Paint Shop Sub-Precinct (Redfern Station end): will be a key component in the innovation future of Sydney, with strong links to tell the past innovation story. With a future innovation district character and direct connection to Redfern Station, the Paint Shop Sub-Precinct will be a fusion of employment, housing, retail and hospitality, interspersed with a variety of both permanent and adaptable pop-up recreation uses.

The Vision document does not set out options for massing or the built form, it simply tries to establish the vision and principles TfNSW will consider in the redevelopment.

It does talk extensively about the adaptive reuse of heritage buildings and the inclusion of active uses into the heritage fabric of these buildings, including at Carriageworks.

One of the problem on the North Eveleigh side is that there is little other than the buildings to tell the heritage stories. Much work needs to be dome to bring the people and processes stories to life. Before UrbanGrowth was disbanded, it was working on a site wide Conservation Management Plan that aimed to ensure that both sides of the former Eveleigh Railway Workshops were interpreted as a whole site. Resurrecting this proposal and engagement with ex workers and heritage practitioners familiar with this site will be crucial if the community is to end up with the heritage benefit possible from this site and not just some adaptively reused buildings.

The document advises that the North Eveleigh Masterplan is still in effect, as a result of the construction of the Platform Apartments. However, the UrbanGrowth proposal for the Macdonaldtown end of the site has lapsed.

The Strategic Vision states: “Changes to the planning controls are likely to be required. Following finalisation of this Vision, further work will be undertaken to determine the extent of change required to the existing planning controls. Amendments to the planning controls will be investigated through the preparation of a State Significant Precincts Study with associated technical analysis, and community and stakeholder consultation”.

Commenting on this document is important because it can influence the next part of the planning process. The earlier community members make their priorities clear, the easier it is to defend these if they go missing and aren’t included in later planning.

Some initial observations and concerns on Strategic Vision

Connectivity

The Vision statement is weak on connectivity other than to Redfern Station. For example, it says “Investigate a direct pedestrian connection between the Precinct and Redfern Station and the feasibility of a pedestrian crossing over the railway corridor”. Because a connection over or under the railway line to South Eveleigh is only a “feasibility” the analysis of the site in the document has no north south desire lines or possible movement corridors. Gone too is anything other than the prospect of Iverys Lane as a connection to Macdonaldtown Station.

The TfNSW strategic vision is not seeking to integrate with South Eveleigh, be that in terms of immediate connectivity or leveraging movements from Waterloo Metro and Alexandria to Sydney University and RPA Hospital. It also is not looking at how it integrates with the high tech tenants at South Eveleigh and how that might improve agglomeration and incubation. And while it uses many heritage photos from the Southern side of the former Eveleigh Railway Workshops there is little indication it is signing up to an integrated heritage interpretation which compliments what is happening at South Eveleigh.

Much is made of bike paths and of the use of walking and riding in the precinct. The focus however is purely on the Wilson Street Cycleway and while the “opportunities and challenges” Diagram 2 shows a bike path in South Eveleigh, it is not connected by other than the Southern Concourse, on which TfNSW has ruled out a bike connection.

The problematic movements from buses and the Waterloo Metro to the precinct is brushed over by saying “A bus interchange area is located immediately east of the station, providing services to a range of locations across Sydney. The new Waterloo Metro Station, due to open in 2024, is located within a 15-minute walk from the Precinct”.

By their glossary, TfNSW must be referring to the station having an “adjoining bus stop” as it certainly does not cover how people connect from the new Southern Concourse to South bound buses across two arterial roads some distance from a pedestrian crossing. The Vision report says the nearest arterial road to the site is “the Princes Highway, approximately 230 metres to the north”.

Finally on roads, the document proposes to open up “access to the eastern half of the Precinct by extending Carriageworks Way as a key connecting access spine”. No mention is made about the eastern access to the site with that entrance just shown as currently a “private service access point”.

From the days of the Redfern Waterloo Authority, tackling the barriers created by the railway line and the twin arterial roads has been seen as the key to delivering connectivity and to opening up the potential for North and South Eveleigh to be reconnected.

TfNSW has failed to envisage North Eveleigh as part of the wider precinct connected across these barriers.

Aboriginal Affordable Housing

The Redfern Waterloo Aboriginal Affordable Housing Campaign has called for 10% Aboriginal Affordable housing on the development of all government owned land in Redfern Eveleigh Darlington and Waterloo. While the report acknowledges the community asked for “dedicated Aboriginal housing and tenancies” the vision on for all affordable housing is to “deliver at least 5%-10% affordable housing”. On the Waterloo South site, the City of Sydney is proposing 20% be affordable housing with half that being dedicated to Aboriginal affordable housing.

The vision statement has a lot to say about involving the Aboriginal community in the development especially around the Government Architects’ “Designing with Country” and “Cultural Design Principles”. Given the significance of the area to the Aboriginal community, one of the key ways to respond to Country is surely to ensure that Aboriginal people continue to live in this area of such great significance to them. Aboriginal affordable housing has to be at the centre of this.

Responding to what has gone before

Many people living in the area will have been involved in earlier consultations about this site. You might be interested in a section towards the end of the report where TfNSW seeks to show how what you said was taken up in its precinct renewal principles. You might like to see if your concern is mentioned and to look at if it has been picked up in the rationale for the principle.

It is also useful to look back at earlier work on the site. While UrbanGrowth never delivered its Affordable Housing Study or its Transport study, it did recommend 10 Key Moves. It is worthwhile looking back at those moves and to see how the TfNSW strategic vision responded to them.

The Vision report deals with the bits it likes from the Central to Eveleigh Urban Transformation Strategy on the last page of its analysis (page 54) but avoids others. UrbanGrowth’s Key Move 3 to “create walking and cycling connections across the railway corridor” is missing. Such a connection was a part of the RWA’s North Eveleigh Concept Plan.

Key Move 2 was to create a green network, but in the current proposal is mentioned only in the context that Wilson Street is part of broader green network identified by City of Sydney Council. The Vision statement retains the large park towards Newtown, but only talks about pocket parks being proposed in the Redfern Station end. No relief looks imminent for Darlington’s over loved Charles Kernan Reserve.

During the 2020 consultation, the issue of the impact of some events at Carriageworks on surrounding residents was raised as an issue. Concerned residents might want to look carefully at aspects in the strategic vision that are guided by the NSW Government vision for a 24-hour global city strategy (page 15) and a night-time economy.

Make your submission

REDWatch encourages you to download the Strategic Vision (PDF, 12.05 MB) document, have a read and to make any comments you wish to TfNSW by email at projects@transport.nsw.gov.au or call 1800 684 490.

Geoff

Geoffrey Turnbull

REDWatch Co-Spokesperson

Ph Wk: (02) 8004 1490  Mob: 0418 457 392

email: spokesperson@redwatch.org.au

web: www.redwatch.org.au

FB: www.facebook.com/RedfernEveleighDarlingtonWaterlooWatch/