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The inner west suburb of Wentworth Point has it all.Surrounded by water, wetlands and coastal walks, it is conveniently located between Parramatta and the Sydney CBD and adjacent to Sydney Olympic Park.The well-kept public gardens are within walking distance to cafes, shops and amenities.
Over the past decade, the idyllic setting has attracted hundreds of young families and retired couples to condos as former industrial areas become dense unit blocks.Birdsong from a nearby reserve and sparkling waves on the Parramatta River on a sunny day in suburban Sydney.
But the eight-year development still has initial problems.All 15,000 residents live in apartments with no open park space for children to play.The primary school exceeded its capacity within three years with only one childcare service.
There is also only one road in and out of the suburbs, so developers can fill the traffic gap by running shuttle buses throughout the day across bridges that are inaccessible to private vehicles.Stage two of the Parramatta light rail linking Wentworth Point to the city’s second CBD has been delayed indefinitely.
Frustrated residents say it’s a case study of what happens to Sydney when infrastructure doesn’t keep pace with rapid development.And it’s not slowing down: Several apartment buildings are still under construction, meaning the peninsula will be home to thousands over the next decade.
The fast-growing, high-density community is in the key federal seat of Reed, which the Liberals won by a narrow 3.2 percent in next month’s federal election.
NSW Liberal Minister Geoff Lee warned this week that the Morrison government’s reluctance to fund light rail stage two could jeopardize the Coalition’s control of the seat; he said it was one of the biggest problems in the region and could will affect votes.
Labour – which believes Reid can win – is trying to capture Wentworth Cape residents’ frustration with broken promises and lagging infrastructure to gain an edge at the ballot box.
Last month it pledged to work with Parramatta City Council and spend $8.5 million to upgrade Hill Road – the only access to and from the peninsula – which floods when it rains and lacks safe pedestrian crossings.Morning traffic queues are a source of anxiety, with residents saying accidents and near misses are frequent.
The Coalition has failed to deliver on Labor’s promises but this week unveiled designs for a $100 million upgrade to the nearby notorious Homebush Bay Drive roundabout in partnership with the state government.The funding was originally announced in the 2019 election.
Ankita Saxena, who has lived in Wentworth Point for six years with her husband Pratik and Anna, now two, said the road upgrade would be a selling point.”If they’re going to fix this, it’s definitely important in the election. The road is important. A lot of accidents happen.”
Ankita Saxena enjoys living in Wentworth Point with her husband Pratik and Anna, now two, but they plan to leave when their daughter reaches school age.Image credit: Rhett Wyman
But it will take more than a few fixes to keep her family in the area.The population has grown, but Saxena says public transport can’t keep up, and buses fill up quickly.
Developer Billbergia has built the Bennelong Bridge to connect Wentworth Point to Rhode Island by water, and now, in addition to public buses, there are shuttles every 15 minutes during peak hours to transport residents to the train station.
But the bridge, which has bike lanes and sidewalks, cannot be used by cars.Commuters travel another 7 kilometers around the Olympic Park to reach the same area.
Bridges to and from Wentworth Point are open to pedestrians, cyclists and buses.Cars must be driven on mountain roads.Image credit: Rhett Wyman
Then there’s the issue of schools.Wentworth Point Public School, which opened in 2018 with views of the Parramatta River, has grown too large to accommodate too many students; utilization rose from 50 per cent in 2018 to 117 per cent last year.
The school was built for 400 children, but will enroll 557 students by 2021; it has access to several demountable buildings and more is being developed.
A vacant lot next door was reserved for Wentworth Point and a high school in the adjacent suburb.It shouldn’t be: The state government initially set aside the Olympic Park land for the high school, which will include that high-growth area as well as the Concord West school district.
But now Olympic Park High School has relocated to Wentworth Point, where residents had hoped the land would be used as a rare park.
Instead, the six-storey high school will house 1,500 students from areas on the edge of the peninsula.Locals fear the students will exacerbate traffic problems on Hill Road; the education department predicts they will walk, cycle or use the bus.The department also said the school’s play spaces will be open to the public after school hours.
Meanwhile, children at Wentworth Point play football or ride motorbikes and draw with chalk on the asphalt in the idle car park during school holidays.
“If you’re a small family or a couple, this is the perfect place to live. It’s a very resort lifestyle, it’s very lively, you can move around whenever you want, and there are no security concerns,” says Sexana.
“But once [Anna] starts school, we’re going to have to plan to leave the area. That’s going to be the only reason we’re leaving. The area is very good, so we can compromise now. But for sure, once she’s six or seven, you You can’t compromise [schools and transportation].”
According to 2016 census data, about half of Wentworth Point’s population is family, many of whom are of Chinese, Korean and Indian ancestry.Domain data shows that the median condo price ranges from $575,000 for a one-bedroom unit to just over $1 million for a three-bedroom unit.
“This is the changing face of Sydney. No one lives in a house here, everyone lives in a unit,” said group convenor Mark Green, who bought out the scheme in 2017 to retire with his partner .
“From our experience, most people like the area because of its proximity to Homebush Bay and Olympic Park. The original activation area and the 2014 agreement included all schools, roads, traffic, and all the rest. But the commitment The fact that the infrastructure has not been delivered is a major concern.
“Student bus to Concord High School, it was overcrowded. [On the peninsula] it was possible to build a beautiful park and the land was still there, but the state changed its mind [moved the high school to that place in Wentworth Cape] .
“It’s a beautiful place. That’s what keeps people going and hopefully the infrastructure will come. But I think the frustration is boiling over right now.”
The polling place at Wentworth Point leaned towards the Liberals, despite 3.74 per cent for Liberal MP Fiona Martin in the last election.
This year, first-time Labour candidate Sally Sitou launched a grassroots campaign in Reid focusing on Wentworth Point and its lack of infrastructure.
Mother-of-two Juliana Lee said she really wanted to cross on Hill Road as Labor promised, but didn’t think it was enough to win her vote.
Julianna Lee’s 7-year-old son Ashton and his cousin play in a car park in Wentworth Point.Image credit: Rhett Wyman
“You can walk a long way and [it's] dog friendly. We walked over the bridge and it’s great for small families,” she said.
Her 7-year-old son, Ashton, started kindergarten at a local school in 2020, but now attends Concord, while her youngest, 2, attends daycare at Olympic Park.
Lee starts driving around the area for 45 minutes every morning at 8 a.m. to avoid traffic jams, but she’s used to it by now.
“Honestly, I don’t think it’s going to be fixed. It’s going to get worse over time at the high school and the condo. Hopefully by then we’ll be able to move out,” she said.
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