New railway station to keep 10,000 home target on track
In a decision that "won't be met by universal happiness" the first new train station in a decade will sit next to Australia's most expensive housing market.
AUSTRALIA’S oldest suburban rail network is on track for its first new station in more than a decade in a bid to boost construction of 10,000 homes in the nation’s most expensive property market.
Construction of Woollahra station – on Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs line – didn’t happen when the route was built in the 1970s because of community opposition.
But the NSW government wants trains to stop there to support 10,000 new homes and rebalance housing construction, which has predominantly occurred in the city’s west in recent years, to areas with existing infrastructure.
“For too long, young people and families in NSW have been forced to choose between moving away from the Sydney CBD or not being able to afford a home at all,” Premier Chris Minns said on Sunday.
A station at Woollahra would give commuters a direct train to the CBD in eight minutes.
Woollahra has been assessed as the most feasible area to build new housing near the city, but consistently lags on new home approvals.
Its population has declined by 11 per cent in the past five decades, while Greater Sydney has grown by 74 per cent, the government says.
Social housing agency Homes NSW does not have landholdings around the station and has not been investigating providing social and affordable housing in the area, Housing Minister Rose Jackson told a budget estimates hearing on Friday.
But rezoning around Woollahra and nearby Edgecliff station would include “a dedicated portion of affordable housing”, she said on Sunday.
It will likely come from developers who can access higher floorspace ratios and building heights in exchange for designated affordable housing.
The exact zoning proposals will not be finalised for about two years with construction on the new station slated to begin in 2027.
Mr Minns said the government would examine rezoning a radius of 400 metres around nearby Edgecliff station that could allow for buildings with a maximum height of 21 floors.
The 10,000 homes would be available around 10-15 years after the estimated completion of the station in 2029.
“It’s a decision that won’t be met by universal happiness in the local community, I accept that,” Mr Minns told reporters on Sunday.
“But the alternative, where we’re effectively saying to the next generation of young Australians, you do not have a future in this city because there’s not a house for you, is intolerable.”
The last heavy rail stations opened between Glenfield and Leppington in Sydney’s southwest in 2015 as housing construction in the area increased.
New construction has more recently focused on automated Metro services, which now run between Tallawong in the city’s northwest and Sydenham, and eventually on to Bankstown in the southwest.
The ongoing Metro West project from the CBD to Parramatta is several years away, but a push to allow for 25,000 homes near a potential station at Rosehill failed when the owners of the suburb’s racecourse opted not to sell the site in May.
