Once again there is a DA for 9-15 Clifford St Suffolk Park (adjacent to the existing shops).
The current nine, very affordable dwellings, will be demolished. In their place will be a mixed-use development of two ground-floor cafe/restaurant/retail tenancies, ten shop top housing units, and six detached dwellings. Of the ten units, three will be affordable for 15 years in that they will be rented to low-income people with the rent set to 30 per cent of their income [at 80 per cent of market rate]. After 15 years they revert to market rent.
Suffolk Park residents may not be aware that, unlike previous DAs for this site, the Suffolk Park Community Association (SPCA) will NOT be putting in a submission to reflect the views of the community. The President and Secretary have declared conflicts of interest (Echo, April 2026) and so are not commenting and no one else has stepped in.
So it is up to individuals to self-organise. I was inspired to see approximately 40 people attend a public meeting on Tuesday afternoon. Huge kudos to the organisers!
The main issues raised were about traffic and parking (35 places), the removal of 18 mature trees and stormwater management.
To find out more, and to make a submission, go to Council’s website, search for ‘DA Tracker’, then click on ‘DAs on exhibition’ (or search for DA 10.2026.476.1). The traffic report is attachment 16 – ‘TIA’. Submissions can be brief, and are due by 27 October.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
