Five years after the announcement that the Waterloo Estate will be redeveloped, a Social Sustainability Report has just been released to the public. Its purpose is to look at how to “maximise positive social outcomes for current, neighbouring and likely future communities through the project”.
The report touches on many important issues, including the need for community development, a human services plan, new community facilities, consistent communication, ongoing resident engagement, and place making. However, there are few specific commitments or timeframes. Most of the issues and actions are intended to be taken up by a private developer who is yet to be appointed.
Politicians and staff associated with the project are fond of saying that it applies the lessons of previous redevelopments, including those in Minto, Bonnyrigg, Airds, and Riverwood. However, the Social Sustainability Report makes no mention of any of these projects, or the extensive research that has been conducted on them.
Clear evidence is available regarding the importance of supporting residents throughout all stages of a redevelopment. This should commence as soon as residents are notified of the project, as this can trigger substantial stress and anxiety for some people. One of the most effective approaches is to have a human service plan that is tailored to the stages of the redevelopment project and is continually revised in response to emerging issues. However, five years after the redevelopment of the Waterloo Estate was announced, there is still no such plan.
Research also indicates that one of the most effective ways of maintaining the health and wellbeing of communities is to provide them with continuous communication, to provide them with a sense of certainty and control. However, there have been large gaps in communication in Waterloo. A newsletter in January 2019 explained that a preferred masterplan for the estate had been prepared and described its attributes. The next newsletter was published in June 2020, nearly 18 months later. This newsletter described the results of a new planning process that related to only part of the estate. There were no newsletters in between to explain that revisions were being made, why this was happening, how long it would take, or how community members might be involved.
Over the past five years millions of dollars in staff time and consulting fees have been spent planning for redevelopment. Unfortunately, there has not been comparable effort to sustain the health and wellbeing of the community, despite it being a period of significant uncertainty.
While it is not an exhaustive list, here are eight things the NSW Land and Housing Corporation can do to support the health and wellbeing of the community, consistent with the Social Sustainability report recommendations.
- Articulate the social outcomes the project is intended to achieve and explain how current and future work is designed to deliver these outcomes.
- Commit to a regular cycle of newsletters and other forms of communication, to ensure that the community has access to reliable and timely information.
- Create and maintain a community engagement plan that makes clear the opportunities for residents to participate in the project, and the level of influence they will have when they do.
- Review research conducted on previous redevelopment projects in NSW, make this available to staff, contractors, and stakeholders, and ensure that it is incorporated into all strategies and plans for Waterloo.
- Work with residents and other stakeholders to periodically identify, assess, and respond to risks to the social sustainability of the community.
- Develop an interim human service plan immediately, to ensure that stress, anxiety, and other immediate needs of the Waterloo community are addressed.
- Develop a long-term human service plan and appropriate governance arrangements to respond to the needs of different population groups during different stages of redevelopment (ongoing planning, rehousing, demolition, construction, and new residents moving in).
- Involve residents, stakeholders, and technical experts when developing the tender specifications for engaging a private developer, to ensure that social sustainability is a core priority of the project.
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David Lilley is a consultant and PhD student at the University of NSW School of Public Health and Community Medicine. He has previously worked on estate renewal projects for LAHC.
