Springwood Residents Group
Don't suffocate springwood
say no to a supersized woolworths
A Big Woolworths = Traffic Problems and Reduced Choice.
We MUST stop this from happening in Springwood
Process Update
The Council has provided a briefing to the Western Sydney Planning Panel (the report uploaded on the DA tracker) and has identified a number of key issues:
- Poor integration with the surrounding public domain
- Heritage impacts ( on the Oriental Hotel and Macquarie Road East Heritage Conservation Ares)
- Failure to exhibit design excellence (due to the public domain integration and heritage issues)
Council contracted an independent urban designer Rod Simpson to provide a report that shows the current DA does not meet Council design’s principles and outlines a number of options for better integration and amenity.
The BMCC report and the independent design report are available below (a particularly important report is the design excellence report).
Two on-site meetings were held with Woolworths, Council representatives and Planning Panel members on 31 March and 12 May 2025.
The Council has invited the developer to work with them to address the issues raised and the recommendations of the design report. Council has now made a recommendation to the Planning Panel for a decision on the current DA. The Council has recommended approval.
NOTE: All the documents are available on the SWCPP website: Council’s assessment report with all attachments and the notice of the Determination Meeting
Consultant Reports
Traffic Report – click to review
- DA traffic assessments by developer using volumes form a low month (June)</>
- Queue spill back effects not represented adequately
410 car trips in/out per hour will see increases of over 20% on Macquarie Street - Site is somewhat distant from Town Centre and will encourage 2
car trips in town (rather than 1 currently) – not in line with TfNSW movement & place principles
Traffic performance on year of opening not representative of traffic conditions due to other friction effects - No form of parking management and how to avoid basement car park being over capacity (and blocking double roundabout)
- With congestion on Macquarie Street set to increase no assessment of the relief route via Springwood Avenue has been included in DA
Economic Report – click to review
We have significant concerns about the currency and accuracy of the economic need and impact assessment submitted with the development application. In the first instance the report was prepared in 2019 and is now very much out of date, and secondly the report does not assess the supermarket development as proposed. We also are of the view that the economic need and impact assessment submitted with the development application significantly overstates the capacity of the identified trade areas to accommodate additional supermarket floor space. This is due to new supermarket floor space being identified (e.g. Woolworths Leura, expanded IGA at Lawson) and the application report not adequately considering what quantum of supermarket floor space can reasonably be retained by the trade areas. We also believe that the impact of the proposed development on Springwood (and particular Springwood retailers) has been understated. While we agree that there is need for additional supermarket floor space within Springwood, we estimate this need to be no more than ~1,254 sqm. This indicates to us that the proposed development is an over-development on the subject site.
Planning Report – click to review
There is a need for a preliminary construction traffic management plan. This should not be deferred, due to the very significant traffic impacts associated with a significant excavation.
- The application is inconsistent with respect to parking rate compliance. Overall the shortfall has not been justified sufficiently.
- Circulation routes need to include movements between the two parking areas. This has not been addressed.
- Separation of service vehicles is not achieved with the Oriental Hotel. It is considered that an appropriate site design could potentially achieve this.
- Bicycle parking should also be considered on the rooftop parking.
- Pedestrian travel is poorly developed in terms of an effective connection from the supermarket to Macquarie Road.
- CPTED has been previously addressed
- Signage – The restriction to six signs in the DCP is considered reasonable.
- Additional active street frontage to David Road and Raymond Road should be considered. The lobby is not considered to provide true active street frontage, except for the actual entrance doors and immediate area behind.
- Removal of canopy trees has not been sufficiently compensated for in the proposed landscaping.
- Increased use of the Oriental Hotel driveway is contrary to the DCP and will significantly increase pedestrian hazard as well as create potential bottle-necks in particular when right hand out movements are proposed, which may instead lead to additional loadings on the roundabout in Macquarie Road. Moving the pedestrian crossing west of the driveway will lose the current traffic breaks provided by the crossing which facilitate exit movements.
- Insufficient consideration has been given to pedestrian movements, both within the site and around it.
