Plaza development: ‘A small win for Thirroul’

By  Louise Wellington and Stephen Le Bas, founders of the Save Thirroul Village community campaign

The Thirroul community’s efforts have been rewarded with a small win in preserving the integrity of our iconic village.

After seven months of tireless campaigning, community consultation and significant personal investment, the local Thirroul community have come out “on top” in stage one of the long and continuing campaign against the controversial Thirroul Plaza DA.

Whilst the fight isn’t over, we can pause to enjoy the moment when a letter sent from Wollongong Council to the developers’ architect on
27 November 2020 stated the DA will likely need “substantial changes to the design” before any approval is recommended.

Council has suggested the developer withdraw the DA now to enable these matters to be properly addressed prior to resubmitting a new application or they risk the Council recommending a refusal to the Southern Regional Planning Panel, the determining body of the development application.

This is great news for the Save Thirroul Village campaign. We have been opposing the development based on the vast array of issues that the developer has refused to address, all of which align with the issues reported by Council.

The developer is now considering their options. As we understand it, they can either take on board the Council’s recommendation to withdraw the DA, or continue with the current DA, and take their chances with the Regional Planning Panel.

In an article in the October edition of 2515 Coast News titled ‘A missed opportunity’, Louise Wellington, founder of the Save Thirroul Village group, asked “why are we accepting this development as a one-way communication?”

The developers appear to be treating the development of the Thirroul Plaza site as a basic business transaction with no thought given to the ‘heart’ of our town. No consideration has been given to the suitability of the structure proposed. We are not opposed to development of the site; however, it would be great if the developers consulted the community. We have ideas, and the inspiration, to explore all possibilities to make this ‘the’ truly iconic centrepiece of Thirroul.

Transport for NSW (TfNSW) have stated they do not support the development in its current form. TfNSW have presented an alternate traffic plan that should form the basis of an inspired design for the Thirroul Plaza site. This traffic option provides a unique opportunity to create ‘the’ contemporary jewel in the crown of Thirroul, offering a complementary partnering with the existing elegant presence of Anita’s Theatre.

It was uplifting to see that council have listened to the 1,052 objections to the Thirroul Plaza DA. Perhaps it is time to pause for thought, to slow development in the northern suburbs, and give Council time to undertake a Master Planning exercise for Thirroul and the northern suburbs.

There is a link to the Council letter to the developer on savethirroulvillage.com