By TVC secretary Annette Jones and Louise Wellington of Save Thirroul Village

The development manager for Thirroul Plaza, Louis Goulimis, from Solid Void, attended the last Thirroul Village Committee (TVC) meeting on 23 February. Over 40 residents attended to hear about the survey results and the latest plans for the Plaza.

Survey results

Louis informed the meeting that the raw survey data was available, but no analysis as yet, though it should be ready shortly. A cursory scan of the raw data indicated there were some consistent themes but we await the full analysis. The TVC will report back on this once it is available.

Plaza Plans

The latest on the plaza development application formed the majority of the discussion. Louis explained that the developer of the Plaza has submitted an expression of interest (EOI) to the newly formed NSW Housing Delivery Authority (HDA). It was explained that the EOI is a tick-box application to see if the development is eligible for this accelerated process or not. Louis said that the developers have been asked to submit extra documentation by the department regarding:

• How they will overcome the community concerns
• Reasons for previous refusal.

The HDA was announced in November last year to streamline and fast-track residential developments worth more than $60m in Greater Sydney and $30m in regional NSW. The HDA is responsible for assessing EOIs against the criteria to determine whether the residential development should be recommended to proceed as a State Significant Development (SSD). If the HDA determines the proposal is an SSD, the developers will be eligible to lodge the development through a process outside the relevant council planning channel. The development is then assessed against a generic set of planning requirements. It is unclear how much consideration will be provided to local planning rules in this process. Read more about the HDA at www.planning.nsw.gov.au/policy-and-legislation/housing/housing-delivery-authority.

Any development deemed significant and compliant with requirements is approved within 275 days. It was explained that the information provided as part of the EOI was high level. If the development is approved via the HDA the developers need to be shovel ready in 12 months from approval. Louis said there were no new plans for the development of the plaza as yet, and that the EOI only required a high-level summary of the new development. Louis stated that the development would be mixed-use, including retail and housing, although details of this were not presented to the meeting.

Residents present at the meeting were surprised to hear about the submission of an EOI to the HDA. The community has concerns that by going through this process there may be less local input into the decision-making process. Louis indicated that the developers are committed to ongoing community consultation should they be successful through this alternative pathway. Given the opportunity, the TVC and Save Thirroul Village will work with the development manager and keep the community updated on what is happening.

Next TVC meeting: Sunday, 25 May, 4pm at TRIPS Hall in Railway Parade, Thirroul