Save Bondi Junction
The State wants room for 14,400 more homes across the Waverley Council area over 30 years, from Bondi Beach to Bronte, starting with 3,000 in Bondi Junction. Either Council plans them, or the State does it over our heads, one tower at a time.
Not just Bondi Junction
Bondi Junction's 3,000 homes are only about a fifth of the 14,400 the State wants across the Waverley Council area. Taking more density in the Junction doesn't let the rest of the council area off the hook. The Sydney Plan already names where the rest goes.
The Waverley Council area (the LGA) covers Bondi Junction, Bondi, Bondi Beach, North Bondi, Tamarama, Bronte, Queens Park, the suburb of Waverley, Dover Heights, and parts of Rose Bay and Vaucluse.
Bondi Junction is the test case.
If Council can plan the Junction well, with sun on the parks, heritage kept and infrastructure locked in before the extra height, that's the template for every suburb that comes next. If it stalls and the State takes over, that becomes the template instead. Wherever you live in the council area, this is the fight that decides how your street gets planned.
The 60-second version
They come from two different governments, and they push on each other. If you only remember one thing: the State sets the target and approves the big towers; Council decides the shape, but only if it acts in time.
State government
The State's 30-year plan for where Sydney's new homes go.
It gives the Waverley Council area a target of 2,400 homes by mid-2029, and requires every council to keep 30 years of "feasible" housing zoned at all times: 14,400 homes for ours. Bondi Junction is first, not last.
Why it matters: the number isn't up for debate. The question is how we meet it.
Waverley Council
Council's blueprint for Bondi Junction: heights, parks, the Mall, the library and childcare.
Adopted in July for ~3,000 homes, with towers of up to 25–30 storeys in the Mall. On its own it's a vision. It only becomes binding once it's written into the LEP, Council's legal planning rules, and the State signs off.
Why it matters: it's our best chance to decide where height goes and what we get in return.
State government
State rules that already apply, master plan or not.
Since 2025, residential streets within 800 m of the Bondi Junction town centre automatically allow apartments of up to 6 storeys (22 m) near the centre, and terraces and small apartment blocks further out, including in heritage areas.
Why it matters: it's the "do nothing" option. Without a plan, this spreads street by street, and the Sydney Plan wants more low-rise housing across the rest of the council area too.
State government
A fast-track that lets big developers skip Council entirely.
Projects of roughly 100+ homes and $60m+ can apply to the State's Housing Delivery Authority. If accepted, the Planning Department assesses them, not Council, and they can ask for more than the local rules allow. Six are underway in Bondi Junction, and more in Bronte and Rose Bay.
Why it matters: these towers are being decided tower-by-tower, now, before the master plan is law.
Meanwhile, until the LEP is in place…
⛔ A Council planning proposal (LEP change) that's moving ahead is the main thing that gets SSD towers withdrawn. A master plan that keeps getting stalled doesn't.
The honest bit: Sydney SSD towers are almost never refused once they reach exhibition, and conditions rarely cut height. Submissions still matter: they're the formal record, they can win conditions (no short-term letting, better waste and lanes, unit mix), and the numbers tell the State how much the community cares. But the bigger lever is getting Council's plan into law, and that means pressure on the right people.
The Sydney Plan
In August 2026 the State released The Sydney Plan. It names Bondi Junction a "Strategic Housing Area", tells Council to rezone it for 3,000 homes and to look for more, and makes councils prove every year that they've zoned enough housing that developers would actually build.
Saying no isn't an option on the table. If Council doesn't zone for the homes, the State does it for us: through the SSD fast-track, one developer's tower at a time, through blanket rules like LMR, or, as in Woollahra, by taking the rezoning over entirely. That's the worst of both worlds: the same growth, with none of the planning. No guaranteed sun on Clementson Park or the Mall, no say over heritage, and no binding promise of the library, childcare or parks.
A good master plan, written into the LEP quickly, is how we put the height where it does the least harm and make developers deliver the parks, sunlight and community facilities before the extra height. Every month the plan is stalled, more tower proposals get through without it. Tell the people who decide →
What happens if Council doesn't plan
The NSW Government has taken the rezoning of Edgecliff and Woollahra out of the local council's hands. It's a State-led rezoning, and Woollahra Council has no decision-making power over it. That council put forward its own plan for up to 3,600 homes. The State is pressing ahead with nearly three times that.
This is what the Liberal councillors are pushing for here: stall Council's plan, and let the State take over. Woollahra shows what that looks like, and Rose Bay is already in its spill-over.
Tell your MP: no takeover here
Source: Woollahra Council, "Have your say: NSW Government's rezoning plans for Woollahra and Edgecliff". Submissions closed 30 October 2026; the State expects to finalise it in 2027.
Who to talk to
The biggest decisions, the targets, the towers and whether Council keeps control at all, are made by the NSW Government. If you write to one person this month, make it your State MP. Council decides the shape, so your ward councillors matter too.
NSW Government · decides most
Ask for: let Waverley Council plan its own area. No Woollahra-style takeover, no SSD towers above the master plan's heights while Council finishes its plan, and quick sign-off for a better LEP.
Waverley Council · decides the shape
Why the rework is slow
Your ward elects three councillors. See the ward boundaries map ↗
Lawson Ward Bondi Junction, Queens Park, Waverley, Bronte
Paula Masselos Labor Katherine Westwood Liberal Lauren Townsend Formerly LiberalHunter Ward North Bondi, Dover Heights
Steven Lewis Mayor, Independent Dov Frazer Liberal Will Nemesh LiberalBondi Ward Bondi Beach, North Bondi
Dominic Wy Kanak Greens Margaret Merten Labor Michelle Stephenson LiberalWaverley Ward Bondi, Waverley, Tamarama
Keri Spooner Deputy Mayor, Labor Ludovico Fabiano Greens Joshua Spicer LiberalBacking the rework Stalling it
Ask the five Liberal councillors: don't use rescission motions to stall, let Council fix the plan, and get it into the LEP before the State does it for us.
Take action · 2 minutes
Pick a tower on the map, tick the concerns that matter to you, and we'll help turn your notes into a professional submission to the developer or the Planning Department, with a copy to your MP.
See it for yourself
Council did shadow studies but hasn't released a 3D model. So we built one from the State's own laser survey of every roof in Bondi Junction. Enter your address to see how the LMR rules and the Master Plan could change the sunlight your home gets, at any season and time of day.
Petition
It's illegal for property developers to donate to NSW councillors, yet people employed by property developers can still sit in government and vote on the rezonings that make their industry money. We're asking the NSW Government to close that loophole: people who work for property developers shouldn't decide planning, and should step aside from decisions that affect developers.
Takes about a minute.
Stay in the loop
Exhibitions open and close fast. We'll email you when a tower goes on exhibition anywhere in the council area, when Council votes on the plan, and when your voice will make the biggest difference. Nothing else.