Growth curve: the projected Green Square population increased from 54,000 to 61,000. The council said the increase across the $13 billion precinct was mainly due to its "design excellence" process, which allows developers to seek a 10 per cent floor space bonus in return for delivering higher quality projects. About 10,000 of Green Square's eventual 30,500 dwellings are now under assessment or construction. "This new data on Green Square's rapid evolution illustrates the community's confidence in what is one of the biggest urban renewal projects in the country," Sydney's Lord Mayor Clover Moore said. But that was not the sentiment expressed by Darren Jenkins, the president of the Friends of Erskineville, a community group that has long voiced frustration at the failure of authorities to keep pace with the infrastructure needs of the area.

Packed to the rafters: Green Square will house 22,000 people per square kilometre by 2030. The increase of 7000 people "certainly should come as no surprise" to the council or state government, Mr Jenkins said. "It's almost inevitable that developers are going to try to get as many apartments into the space as they possibly can," he said. Two major government reports, obtained by the group earlier this year under freedom of information laws, show that numerous recommendations about the area's transport capacity have still not been acted on. "If you look with who actually is moving into these places, moving into new apartments, it will mean young families, and again planning for schools, for childcare – which is so important for productivity – is lagging far behind what the consequential demand will be," Mr Jenkins said.

Cr Moore, who noted the city was investing more than $540 million on new facilities for Green Square, said the new figures highlighted the urgent need for new schools and transport. "The NSW government has still not allocated any funding or revealed where the local primary and high schools will be located for tens of thousands of new residents in Green Square," Cr Moore said. But in the face of "worsening traffic congestion", she welcomed recent comments by Transport Minister Andrew Constance, who said a light rail line was needed to prevent the area becoming a major traffic choke point for the whole of Sydney. "The City has already invested $40 million to secure most of a transport corridor and we are now working with Transport for NSW to assess funding models, look at route options and undertake other work required to progress the development of a new network," Cr Moore said.

Labor councillor Linda Scott said City of Sydney documents from more than a decade ago highlighted the need for services including a library, swimming pool, and community centre at Green Square. Of these, only the community centre had been built, Cr Scott said. "For the term of the current lord mayor, as more and more units are completed, the infrastructure needed for Green Square has not been delivered and local residents have missed out," Cr Scott said. However, a council spokesman said work on the library, pool and other parts of the town centre could not go ahead until after the council and Sydney Water reached an agreement about major drainage works. A deal was struck in 2013 and "these drainage works are now well underway," he said.

The new population figures come more than a year after Jan Gehl, the internationally renowned urban planner hired by the council, also flagged concerns about Green Square's overall density. "It is quite high and it is quite dense and it will be somewhat overshadowed in many places, so it is extremely important that the spaces between the buildings become very acceptable, very attractive," the Danish architect said.