How Tebbutt Street at Taverners Hill will look after the redevelopment. Credit:NSW government The housing target has been lowered in response to concerns about the capability of local infrastructure and a Greater Sydney Commission plan for greater commercial development near the road. The new plan drops density targets in a number of Sydney suburbs, with 7000 fewer dwellings in Homebush – or 40 per cent – but the number of jobs forecast will more than double. The plan forecasts an additional 50,000 jobs in the area from Homebush to Haberfield. Councils, whose negotiations with the state government on the project have previously been frayed, will now be directed to comply with the strategy even in the many instances in which it conflicts with their own development plans.

Responsibility for overseeing the strategy will be assumed by the state government's new super planning body, the Greater Sydney Commission. A minimum of 5 per cent of new homes will be affordable housing but the document allows for an increase in line with any changes to state government policy. Based on headline housing targets, this would account for 1350 new homes in the redevelopment, but the document notes that the target could move with the policy of the government of the day. The strategy promises nearly $200 million in dozens of infrastructure projects to be brought in with partnership with councils, including streetscape upgrades, pedestrian walkways, urban plazas and cycleways. "The strategy is a joint vision for revitalising one of our city's most interesting urban corridors, which has been overwhelmed by heavy traffic, excessive noise and declining commercial spaces for years," said Planning Minister Rob Stokes.

The strategy also outlines a costed list of infrastructure projects for potential future delivery. These include plans to support a greening of the corridor and projects such as an additional 66 hectares of open space and recreation areas, 33 kilometres of walking and cycling connections and $131 million for a rapid bus route from Burwood to the CBD. The strategy divides the corridor into eight precincts with commercial development forecast with a major retail precinct at Auburn and a new research hub in Camperdown. Work on the amenity in the corridor is forecast to begin from next year. Development assessment and construction is slated to begin in 2018.

A spokesman for UrbanGrowth said that the developer had revised housing targets downward in response to community feedback. "In places such as North Strathfield, Burwood-Concord and Lewisham we received significant feedback that the previously proposed heights and densities were not supported." Focus on commerce tempers residential growth The state government has quietly but dramatically changed the future composition of its Parramatta Road redevelopment, with a major switch in emphasis toward commercial development and a doubling in jobs growth. In the space of a year, the government has more than doubled the number of jobs squeezed into the 20-kilometre corridor.

Last year's draft strategy was projecting the addition of 20,000 jobs to the area. That figure is now forecast to reach nearly 50,000. The new jobs are coming at the expense of dwellings. More than two years ago, UrbanGrowth NSW was projecting an increase of up to 50,000 dwellings along the precinct. That target was lowered to 40,000 new dwellings last year but has fallen again in the final strategy to only 27,000 extra homes. The revision came after consultations with the community and councils found concerns about the level of proposed residential growth and the ability of local infrastructure to cope.

Planning Minister Rob Stokes, and the Greater Sydney Commission, which will have ultimate responsibility for overseeing the strategy, have opted for instead for a focus on employment growth and commercial development. Currently only 26,000 jobs are located in the corridor. The change will greatly change the future composition of many of the eight precincts lining the state government's redevelopment. In Taverners Hill, the number of new homes forecast to be added to its Parramatta Road precinct has now halved. But projected new jobs are now forecast to quadruple by 2050 to reach 4100, in line with a plan to include large retail developments in the area. Loading

The state government will now aim to promote Camperdown as a hub for research, connected to the University of Sydney and Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. Its housing growth has also halved, but the injection of new jobs in the precinct will grow dramatically to reach 2300 by 2050 from a previous forecast of only 150.