Rouse Hill Developer Blasts North West Strategy, Councils

The proponent of a 1200-home precinct under way at Rouse Hill has blasted government strategy for the area, saying that patches of land released in the North West Growth Area are in his view “undevelopable”. Arris Group director Greg Taylor told The Urban Developer that he will build the 1000 apartments proposed under the Housing Delivery Authority pathway for his Parkland Estate project. But build costs, public transport constraint and lack of council infrastructure means the area is experiencing what he describes as “one of the biggest disasters I’ve ever seen in terms of planning controls”, Taylor said. “I’m sitting on [4ha] of land, 500m from the [Tallawong metro] station, and it’s undevelopable. “We’re trying to create projects worth hundreds of millions of dollars, but we just can’t do it. It just doesn’t work. The numbers are not even close.” Parkland Estate has already delivered 62 townhouses and 134 apartments in earlier tranches under a 2016 approval, but SEARS have now been requested for another 4 to 20-storey residential building. That next $280-million tranche would yield 463 apartments, including 69 dedicated to affordable housing. Concept approval will also be sought for two further tranches, delivering a total of 1192 homes, with an estimated development cost of $600 million for the works to come. ▲ While 62 townhouses and 134 apartments have already been delivered; another 1000 homes are progressing under the HDA pathway at Parkline Estate. A number of other projects of similar magnitude are progressing in the neighbourhood, including Fusion Land’s $421-million, 700-home HDA proposal at 806-812 Windsor Road , currently on exhibition. While Taylor says that Arris will proceed if the Parkland Estate project is approved, “the problem we have is the cost of construction”. “We’re trying to do stuff out here and we’d love to do stuff out here. But the constraints are things that we are not in control of. “We’re trying to do affordable housing, we’re trying to make things affordable. I’m doing 300 house-and-land [packages] in this area at the moment, trying to build apartments, trying to make all this work.” Build costs of around $550,000 for one-bedroom units, $750,000 for two bedrooms and $950,000 for three cannot be recouped at market prices for Tallawong and Rouse Hill, according to Taylor. Public transport is also a constraint on the North West Growth Area’s development and valuations, particularly from new release areas such as Box Hill, Taylor said. ▲ The Tallawong metro station has become a pinch point for development, rather than enabling it, Taylor said. “There’s no public transport from thousands of homes to a Metro link. They all drive here, park up and down the road at 6.30 in the morning, and try to get a train.” Commuters are driving in the wrong direction and parking up to 1.2km from the Tallawong metro station, because, Taylor says, trains are too full to board by the time they reach Castle Hill and Cherrybrook. Parking ratios in the Norwest Business Park have also hampered the success of commercial developments there, according to Taylor. “I’ve got 80,000sq m approved in Norwest, but I just can’t start,” Taylor said. “I could build another 10,000sq m of office there tomorrow, but there’ll be no more commercial development there.” The long-awaited extension of the Tallawong metro line to St Mary’s , which was placed on Infrastructure Australia’s priority list in March, would allow residents to access employment opportunities outside of the Sydney CBD, Taylor said. Taylor was positive about the efforts of the Hills Shire in producing community amenity, which supports valuations and therefore feasibility, compared to what he sees as more limited support for developments around Tallawong station. “Hills Council have amplified community spaces and plazas,” Taylor said. ▲ The Riverstone Town Centre Masterplan was given effect with the finalisation of a rezoning proposal in April 2026. Lot sizes down to 160sq m have resulted, Taylor says, whereas 400sq m lots are a more realistic size for feasible development. Separately, a Riverstone Town Centre Rezoning Proposal, exhibited from June to July 2025, was finalised in April 2026. That proposal has made amendments to the Blacktown Local Environmental Plan 2015, to allow for 2850 new homes, heights up to 15 storeys, flood resilience, as well as 10ha of new or improved open space.

Rouse Hill Developer Blasts North West Strategy, Councils

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