Randwick panel backs change to Wenworth Street housing approval

Randwick Local Planning Panel has approved a modification to DA/1473/2025 for 105 Wenworth Street, Randwick, after legal advice confirmed the planning pathway was available. The panel met electronically on 9 April 2026 and amended Condition 2 before the development can proceed.

The modification applies to DA/268/2018, the approved three-storey residential flat building. The panel’s resolution deletes the words “including 2 affordable rental housing units” from the description of work, removes conditions 56 and 76, and requires any other inconsistent conditions to be amended so they match the new consent.

Panel members said they were concerned about the path from an in-fill affordable housing development to a development under the Low to Medium Residential provisions of the Housing SEPP. They sought legal advice from Marsdens Law Group dated 15 April 2026, which confirmed the pathway was available subject to the amended condition.

The minutes say the amended proposal meets the non-discretionary standards for residential flat buildings under the SEPP (Housing) 2021 Low and Mid Rise provisions. Those include a maximum height of 17.5 metres and three to four storeys, and a floor space ratio of 1.025:1, below the 1.5:1 limit.

The panel also said the built form, scale, massing, articulation, landscaping and setbacks are consistent with the surrounding medium-density residential context.

It recorded that the development keeps previously approved design outcomes, including 100 per cent of units receiving more than two hours of mid-winter sun, 100 per cent dual-aspect layouts, 2.7 metre finished ceiling heights, and communal open space and deep soil zones consistent with the approved Mod A.

The panel said a one car space shortfall is acceptable given the site’s accessible location, provision of a motorcycle space, constraints of the basement configuration and retention of deep soil areas.

The amended consent must be modified before physical commencement of the development authorised by the approval. The minutes say DA/268/2018 was granted on 8 November 2018 and modified on 13 June 2025.

The same meeting also saw consent granted for 22 Amour Avenue, Maroubra, for the use of unauthorised as-built structures at an existing dwelling house, and for 8 St Marks Road, Randwick, for alterations and additions to a semi-detached dwelling and heritage item, with detailed crossing, verge and road-opening conditions.

For Randwick, the Wenworth Street ruling removes a hurdle for the project before work can start, while preserving the planning conditions the panel chose to keep.