Hills Showground
Overview of the Hills Showground Station State Significant Development Application
In 2019 Landcom and Sydney Metro lodged a draft concept proposal as part of a State Significant Development Application for the government lands surrounding the Hills Showground Station. The application was on public exhibition from 13 November until 10 December 2019.
Landcom has now lodged our Response to Submissions package, which includes the updated concept proposal. You can view the State Significant Development Application and Landcom’s Response to Submissions package on the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment website.
Vision for the site
Our vision for Hills Showground is a thriving local mixed-use centre; a walkable, lively place enhanced by strong connections to world class transport and the cultural and recreational destination of Castle Hill Showground. There will be diverse housing for people with different lifestyles, and green open spaces that encourage people to connect with, the views over Cattai Creek and the wider Garden Shire.
Consultation helping to shape this proposal
Landcom and Sydney Metro engaged a range of stakeholders, to discuss planning controls for the site and to inform the draft concept proposal. We undertook further work on the concept proposal to respond to submissions received during the public exhibition.
Twenty seven submissions were received during the exhibition; 12 from government authorities and 15 from the public or organisations. Key issues raised in the submissions included:
- concern about the building height and scale of buildings
- ensuring buildings showcase design excellence
- concern about traffic impacts and parking provision
- improving the relationship between the concept proposal and Hills Shire Council’s Castle Hill Showground masterplan
- clarification about compliance with minimum lot size and set back planning controls
- infrastructure provision and the capacity of utility services.
In response to feedback, we made the following changes to the concept proposal:
- reduced overall density, bulk and scale (in particular in Precinct East) with a reduction of residential gross floor area (from 1,900 homes to 1,620 homes)
- increased retail and commercial gross floor area
- improved connection to public space and reduced bulk and scale of buildings as a result of increased maximum building storeys from 20 to 21 storeys but still complying with the permissible 68 metre height limit for the Doran Drive Precinct
- increased building setbacks and the inclusion of a three metre outdoor dining setback introduced for Doran Drive Precinct and Precinct West to improve the links to public areas
- fewer one bedroom homes (from 35% to 25%) and more three bedrooms homes (from 10% to 20%) to improve housing diversity
- better integrating the Castle Hill Showground masterplan with the concept proposal
- strengthening the Urban Design Guidelines, to guide future development applications in the design excellence process for the precinct.