Submissions open later. You can prepare yours now. You'll have 14 days to lodge once the Department puts the plans on exhibition, which could be as early as December. Most of a submission can be drafted before then, and this page shows how.
How to prepare now, and lodge in the 14 days
122–128 Hewlett Street, Bronte · SSD-124072740 · Bronte Community Association Inc.
Fortis's plans for 122–128 Hewlett Street are coming. Once they're on exhibition, you'll have just 14 days to respond. You don't need to be a planning expert. Start preparing now, using your own experience of Bronte and the places you care about.
Prepare now. Be ready to submit when the exhibition opens.
This guide has two parts: Part A, what to do now (sections 1 to 7), and Part B, how to lodge once it opens (sections 8 and 9).
The Department must consider every issue raised in submissions "regardless of who the submitter is or the number of submissions received", and its reasons must say how submissions were taken into account. Each unique submission is counted. A copied one adds nothing new.
Earlier this year at Leichhardt, a project on the same fast-track pathway was cut from 16 storeys to 12 during assessment. The Department's report says why: "The project has been revised in response to concerns raised by submissions, Council and the Department." It had 24 unique public submissions.
After the exhibition closes, the Department publishes every submission and asks Fortis to prepare a report responding to the issues raised. An issue you raise has to be answered.
In the Department's words: "You do not need to be a specialist to have your say." What you see from where you live is something only you can add. Each adult in your household can make their own submission, in their own words.
The 14 days could fall in the weeks before Christmas, or run across the summer holidays: 20 December to 10 January doesn't count, so the clock stops and restarts. Have parts 1 to 3 drafted by the end of November.
Fourteen calendar days is about ten working days, to respond to plans that will run to many technical reports. That's why we're asking you to start now, not when it opens.
No date has been set, and the 14 days could fall in one of three ways. If the plans go in by late November, the 14 days could run in the first half of December. If they go in during December, the 14 days could start before Christmas, stop from 20 December to 10 January, and finish in January. If they go in later, they could start in mid-January or after. Plan for the hardest of these.
You can lodge online from anywhere, so being away over summer needn't stop you. If you'll be away, take your notes with you.
Late submissions are at the Department's discretion, so don't count on one. If the plans change after the exhibition, the Department decides whether to exhibit them again, and for how long.
You'll know it has opened from the Department's "Notify me" alert (section 7) and, if you're a BCA member, from our email the day it opens.
Your connection
Where you live, walk, swim or spend time, how you use the area, and how long you've been here.
Draft nowWhat could change
What you see, how sunlight reaches you, how you experience your street or the headland. Name the place. Name the time of day or the season. Say what changes.
Draft nowWhy it matters
The impact on your home, your family, your daily life or the character of Bronte.
Draft nowReview and refine
Your submission isn't finished until you've reviewed the plans. Find what they say about your issues, and refine your draft to respond to what is actually proposed.
Finish in the 14 daysDraft it in a document on your computer or phone, and keep it. When the exhibition opens, review the plans and refine your draft, then paste it into the form or upload the document.
Summer weekends, events and school times are when the streets are tested. If the traffic or parking is bad, photograph it and note the date and time.
Pick the one or two that matter most to you, and answer them about your own place: your window, your street, your walk. You don't need to cover them all.
The height question matters most. The plans don't only ask to build a building; they ask to raise the height and density limits for this site. So it's worth saying whether you think those limits should be raised here at all, not only what the building would look like.
These are questions to think with, not words to copy. Answer them in your own sentences, about your own place.
Why your own words matter: the Department weighs issues, so a copied submission tells it nothing new. Your own words, about your own place, add something only you can.
Write about the building, not the people behind it. Claims about anyone's honesty or motives weaken a good submission, and submissions are published.
If you want to go further: the Department has set requirements the plans must meet, called the SEARs, published on the project page. One says the proposed height and floor space ratio "should be reconsidered". If your issue matches a requirement, say whether the plans meet it. This is optional: what you see from where you live is what only you can add.
Your Portal account holds your full name and home address, and the form shows them for you to check. Your street address isn't published, unless it's in your submission, in an attachment or in a political donations disclosure. The form's Review screen shows exactly how your submission will appear once it's published.
The form also asks whether you've made a reportable political donation in the previous two years. Answer it accurately. If you have, you attach a disclosure statement, which is published with your name and address, and your name can't then be withheld. The Department's "Make a submission" page explains what counts.
Photos are published too. Leave out people's faces, and, if you've withheld your name, anything that shows which home is yours.
Lodge only on the NSW Planning Portal, at planningportal.nsw.gov.au. Nobody, including BCA, needs your Portal password.
Register. On the project page, click "Notify me" and log in. No account yet? Click "Create account" on the login screen and set up a NSW Planning Portal account. The Department will email you when the exhibition opens.
Prepare. Draft the first three parts of your submission by the end of November, and gather your photos, noting where and when you took them.
Spread the word. Tell your neighbours that each adult can make their own submission.
BCA will:
Not a member? Join for $10 a year at brontecommunityassociation.org.au to hear from us about everything to do with the project.
If we can't reach you, we can't tell you when it opens, and fourteen days goes quickly. The Department's alert reaches everyone who clicks "Notify me"; BCA's email reaches our members.
The project page is planningportal.nsw.gov.au/major-projects/projects/rfb-122-128-hewlett-street-bronte. Once you see "You have been successfully subscribed", you're on the Department's list.
New account? Fill in your email, a password and your name. The Department emails you a link to verify it, which lasts 24 hours. The link opens "Create my Profile": choose "Submissions, Feedback, Notifications", then "Individual", add your title and home address, and click "Complete Profile". Then log in again, go back to the project page and click "Notify me".
