The
Connector
A Community Newsletter from Jordan Lane MP, Member for Ryde Shadow Assistant Minister for Health and Multiculturalism SUMMER 2023
8,000 more apartments?
We’ll need another school! You may have seen a recent announcement from Premier Chris Minns to allow specially zoned commercial land in Macquarie Park to become residential ‘build-to-rent’ apartments. The plan, which would involve up to 8,000 new dwellings, creates three substantial issues: 1. Ryde has already more than doubled its housing targets, with over 20,000 new homes on the way. When other parts of Sydney fail to even come close to their targets, why do we keep being targeted? 2. Current plans to deliver a new K–12 school in Macquarie Park were modelled off existing demand. By adding 8,000 new homes, we will need to build yet another school, but no plans or funding has been allocated; and 3. How do we maintain our status as one of the largest GDP producing centres in the nation if the sites helping create high-tech jobs and economic growth are converted for housing?
Our community has been very patient as we wait for new infrastructure to be built to sustain the ongoing growth. However, plans to build even more apartments without infrastructure like the Macquarie Bus Interchange and Catherine Hamlin Park are extremely short-sighted.
Millner, and many other commercial precincts in Ryde. The policy of bypassing Councils is inconsistent with the government’s rhetoric before the election that they would “restore local planning powers”, and was never disclosed during the campaign.
It also beggars belief that in the same week the Government announced these 8,000 new apartments, the one road improvement project planned for our community was also axed – upgrades to Blaxland Road and Balaclava Road, Eastwood.
I have always fought to ensure we get better planning outcomes in Ryde, and am devastated that once again, community interest is being ignored. As your local MP, I need your support so I can strongly put the case in Parliament for the future of Ryde.
In response to calls from Ryde Council to preserve the commercial core of Macquarie Park, the Premier has stated on the record that Councils and communities like Ryde “can expect more of this.”
If you have concerns about these plans, support my calls for another school, and want to be kept informed, please sign the community petition by scanning the QR code.
This raises questions about other locations such as Macquarie Mental Health Hospital, Sydney Water, TG
Thank you to the residents of Macquarie Park who have partnered with me on this campaign – it is essential that we win!
The proposed new ‘residential’ zone
o Jordan speaks to the media with the Shadow Minister for Planning, the Hon. Scott Farlow MLC
SCAN AND SIGN THE PETITION