PLANNING minister Rob Stokes has confirmed he has instructed UrbanGrowth to reconsider building heights for its East End redevelopment with the GPT Group, to come up with a proposal ‘‘mutually agreeable’’ to Newcastle City Council.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Mr Stokes told a budget estimates hearing on Wednesday he had asked the government development agency to consider objections raised by the Newcastle Inner City Residents Alliance, which has been critical of the heights of the project’s three tall towers.
‘‘I understood their concerns in relation to human scale and also in relation to the heritage fabric of the [city’s] east end,’’ Mr Stokes said.
‘‘I strongly agree that those are threshold considerations and I certainly have sought that UrbanGrowth work with Newcastle council to get a mutually agreeable outcome.’’
Revised planning controls for the city that were issued by then planning minister Pru Goward last year set the maximum building height for the tallest tower at about 17 storeys.
GPT and UrbanGrowth are now working on their development application.
Asked to comment, a GPT spokesman said it believed the 2014 planning controls strike ‘‘the balance between good urban planning outcomes and the commercial viability of the project’’.
Mr Stokes defended UrbanGrowth’s decision to pursue development proposals for the heavy rail corridor.
‘‘I recall that Mark Twain once said in 1895 that Newcastle is one big long street with a graveyard at one end and the gentlemen’s club at the other with no gentlemen in it,’’ he told the hearing.
‘‘Now that was an uncharitable reflection on Newcastle but it does point to the opportunities to better revitalise Hunter Street.’’
However, the Court of Appeal has yet to rule on whether the government can lawfully proceed with its plans without first securing Parliament’s approval.
Asked by Labor’s Penny Sharpe why in the meantime UrbanGrowth was ‘‘out talking about a range of urban designs that would actually build within the corridor’’, Mr Stokes emphasised the proposals were ‘‘options’’.
The hearing was also told Hunter Development Corporation general manager Bob Hawes has sold one property he part-owned near the proposed Wickham transport interchange, and was in the process of selling another in the area.
Department of Planning secretary Carolyn McNally said Mr Hawes had declared all his interests and was not privy to any information about the rail corridor that went to HDC’s board.
However, Greens MP David Shoebridge said Ms McNally should have made her own inquiries to establish whether Mr Hawes had obtained a financial benefit from the sale, arising from planning changes in the city that HDC had been involved in.