28 October 2025
Wendy Whiteley has joined local residents in condemning four high-rise proposals being advanced through the New South Wales government’s State Significant Development process, warning they would overshadow and irreparably damage the heritage character of Lavender Bay.
The projects, which are being fast-tracked under the SSD assessment pathway, would permit buildings of up to 70 metres—far exceeding the 12-metre height limit set by the North Sydney Local Environmental Plan. Residents said the scale would disrupt a designated conservation area and threaten the amenity and ecology of the bay.
“Ever since we arrived at Lavender Bay late in 1969, it seems we’ve been in a constant battle to preserve the special magic of this place, fending off property developers,” Whiteley said. “The latest crop of State Significant Developments seek to impose 70-metre-high buildings instead of the gazetted 12-metre height. There has been no consideration of the effects on neighbours or of the area’s amenity, currently enjoyed by all—residents and visitors alike.”
Whiteley described the proposals as inconsistent with the area’s low-rise, heritage streetscape and the spirit of Wendy’s Secret Garden, which she created on the harbour foreshore and which has become a recognised public landmark.
Long-time resident Ian Curdie said local planning controls had previously been applied by North Sydney Council “with an intimate knowledge of the surrounding area and an inherent understanding of what features of the established neighbourhood needed to be preserved.” He said the council’s policy to focus taller development in Milsons Point and Crows Nest had deliberately shielded heritage areas like Lavender Bay, a balance the state system now risked overturning.
“No one has contributed more to the character of Lavender Bay than Wendy Whiteley,” Curdie said. “Her opposition to these four developments is a clarion call to fight for the preservation of our suburb.”
Residents have established a new group, Residents Opposing Lavender Bay Overdevelopment, to coordinate local resistance to the proposed towers.