State government spin machine cranks to overdrive on Newcastle inner-city high rise

The state government’s spin machine cranked into overdrive when the NSW Minister for Planning Pru Goward recently announced reductions to controversial proposed height limits for residential towers in the Newcastle CBD.

The Minister’s media release spruiked the state government’s “extensive community consultation” on the planning controls, and stated that the government’s move to reduce the proposed maximum building height was because “we always said these plans should and would be informed by the community”.

This is the same government that had allocated only two weeks for community consultation on the proposed new height controls, and ignored repeated community requests to extend the consultation period.

The Minister’s media release makes much of the fact that they received 266 submissions during the consultation period, but doesn’t mention that these were mostly due to the efforts of the same community groups whose requests it had ignored, and that the vast majority were opposed to the proposed increased height limits.

What little support there was for those proposed changes came from the usual suspects representing vested interests who stood to pocket the proceeds from any relaxation in development controls.

But there was the occasional surprise.

The Institute of Architects, apparently responding to a request from Newcastle Lord Mayor Jeff McCloy to support the proposed changes, instead focussed its attention on the government’s inadequate community consultation.

That other hotbed of local radicalism, the Newcastle Club, declared its opposition to any increased height limits east of Darby St.

The Minister’s media release doesn’t mention these, but it does quote the Member for Newcastle, Tim Owen, as saying that “he was pleased the Department had heeded the community’s concerns about the maximum building height in the East End”.

The current height limit for the site is 24 metres, and the state government’s original proposal was to increase it to 69.5metres (approximately 20 storeys), representing a 289 percent increase.

Near the end of the Minister’s two page release is the specific information that the proposed new height limit for the site of the tallest proposed tower will now be 58.9 metres (approximately 17 storeys).

So, beneath the government spin, developers will still be gaining a 245 percent increase on the current limit, despite overwhelming community opposition. 

Changes will still include removing specific provisions in the current controls designed to protect views to and from the Christ Church Cathedral.

The Newcastle Inner City Residents Alliance (NICRA), formed by residents who were concerned at the earlier proposed increased height limits, has rejected the Minister’s meagre concession.

Ms Goward’s latest announcement came on the eve of a major public Q&A style forum on the issue that drew a standing-room only crowd to City Hall on a cold, rainy Friday night who were clearly unimpressed by the Minister’s response.

NICRA, who organised the forum, said that they had invited proponents of the increased height limits to participate in the forum panel, but they had declined.

The formal instrument establishing the new height controls will have legal effect once they are gazetted (usually a rubber-stamp operation).

The development application for the CBD towers, which was lodged and placed on public exhibition before the new controls were in place, is still under consideration.

The state government has yet to respond to calls by NICRA and other local organisations to re-exhibit the development proposal once the relevant planning controls are in place.

We're now rapidly approaching that moment.